


The Enchantress Bride

by AJsRandom



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, F/M, Friendship, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 06:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4777688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJsRandom/pseuds/AJsRandom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Think Merlin meets The Princess Bride. Canon-era that eventually goes AU. Major Mergana and minor Arwen. The tale of a Princess who notices a simple boy. He falls for her, she falls for him then he’s taken away by slavers. She’s told she must marry a foreign Prince  to cement a treaty but they don’t love each other. It doesn’t matter, because the whole thing is a trick by his father to murder her brother and ruin their father’s kingdom . Along the way she’s kidnapped then rescued by a mysterious man in brown—her love in disguise, who’s improved his magic and sword skills. They, with help from their friends, discover the whole truth and stop the evil plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this twist on the tale, Uther has recognized Morgana as his daughter. She has the title, rights and privileges of a princess. The admission caused waves at first, but most everyone has accepted it by now.

Long ago, in the Kingdom of Camelot, there lived a beautiful princess named Morgana. Her ebony hair fell to her waist, her eyes shined like polished jade and her skin was as fair as porcelain. She was admired by many men of the Court and most of those attempted to pursue her. But she kept herself apart from them; her father planned to marry her to the highest bidder someday soon.

Morgana, even while knowing this, dreamed of a better life where she could choose whom to love and marry _him_. Thus far in her life, none of the available men she'd met had caught her eye. She was strong, intelligent and independent, and once men discovered this, they lost interest.

She had another problem. Uther, her father, had banned the practice of magic from his kingdom. Anyone found practicing it would be summarily executed. And Morgana had magic; she just _knew_. Many nights she dreamed, and the events of her dreams came to pass. She'd been able to do other unusual things when she became overly emotional. So far, only her maidservant Gwen had noticed these bits of magic. But Gaius, the court physician, who helped her with her dreams, suspected.

One day, something different happened. Morgana was watching the people viewing today's execution, and found a new person. A boy about her age, with the same ebony hair and porcelain skin as hers. His face displayed an expression of horror and disgust—he felt the same as she did about the execution! She watched him until he disappeared into the castle, and sighed at the loss.

xxxXxxx

The boy's name was Merlin. He had come to Camelot from a village just outside Camelot's border. Publically, he’d come to work for his great uncle, the court physician. Secretly, he was a magician who desperately needed to learn how to control his magic. He’d come to learn from the physician, who’d practiced magic before it was banned. Merlin’s mother hoped and prayed Gaius could help her boy.

Gaius was surprised at the strength of Merlin's magic, but agreed to teach him. He'd live with Gaius and serve as his apprentice. The old man wasn't as young as he used to be and rather needed the help.

During Merlin's first few days in Camelot, he'd managed to run afoul of Prince Arthur, Morgana's older half-brother. He'd also met Guinevere, Morgana’s maid, and made friends with her. She helped him learn the castle's layout so he could deliver various medicines to the castle denizens.

In the course of his new position, he accompanied Gaius to a banquet celebrating twenty years of magic's ban. Uther had invited an acclaimed female singer to entertain them.

It was there that Merlin first saw Princess Morgana and became enchanted by her—not literally, of course, but emotionally. She noticed the boy's sapphire eyes on her and smiled to herself. Something about him attracted her to him, but it wasn't anything she would act upon.

The singer turned out to be a witch in disguise. She tried to assassinate Arthur, but Merlin used magic twice to stop her. He saved Arthur's life and was rewarded with the position of manservant to Arthur. Neither boy thought this a particularly good reward, but destiny would have her way.

Morgana watched this happen with interest. As the Prince and Princess interacted quite a bit, she would have the opportunity to get to know this unusual boy. And perhaps she would find out why she felt a pull toward him.

xxxXxxx

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled for the umpteenth time that morning. It was his first day on the job and he'd been yelled at more in a few hours than in his entire life before now. _What did the prat want now?_

The Prince felt the need to test his new servant’s sparring skills. Thus far he was unimpressed; Merlin kept going down heavily. This last time Arthur got impatient and whacked him in the head. “Ow,” Merlin complained.

Arthur was impressed with his bravery though. Most servants didn’t take this kind of beating for long. So Arthur picked up a mace and began swinging it. Merlin sighed. Now he _knew_ his “reward” wasn't worth it. But then Princess Morgana walked out into the training yard and Merlin straightened up. He'd only seen the beauty a few times, but every time she'd smiled like she knew something he didn't. And he _really_ wanted to find out what it was.

She conversed with Arthur for a few minutes then turned to Merlin. “Did I hear you're also serving as Gaius's apprentice?”

He bowed his head briefly and said, “Yes milady. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Please tell him I need more sleeping draught tonight. I've run out.”

“Of course, milady.” He bowed again and she walked away. It took him a few minutes to realize Arthur was calling his name again.

“Merlin! Wakey wakey!” He gave his servant a shrewd look. “Don't get any ideas about Morgana. There's no way someone like _her_ would be interested in someone like _you_. And that's beside the fact that she's royalty and you're a peasant.”

Merlin sighed. “I know.” His shoulders slumped again.

Arthur took one look at him and dismissed him to get cleaned up and report back to him at dinnertime. He wanted to be harder on his new servant, for his stubbornness and cheek, but there was just _something_ about him.

xxxXxxx

Merlin was exhausted that evening, but he had one last errand—delivering Morgana’s sleeping draught. He had to stop three times to ask for directions to her chambers. Once he faced her door, he knocked tentatively and waited until he heard an “enter” to go in.

Her chambers were as big as Arthur’s and just as opulent, but in a feminine way. Morgana herself was in her nightgown and he quickly averted his eyes and held out the bottle. “Hereyougo,” he said.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Oh. Um, I’m sorry, I said, ‘here you go.’ Your sleeping draught.”

She took it from his outstretched hand. “Thank you. Merlin, is it?”

“Yes milady.”

She found the way he ran “my” and “lady” together quaint. “Thank you Merlin. You may go.”

“As you wish, milady. Goodnight.” He bowed and hurried out.

Morgana sat on her bed, bottle in her hand. This Merlin was a curious young man. He was clearly nervous around her, especially because of her nightgown. She smiled, uncorked the bottle and swallowed its contents. Hopefully this formula would knock her out enough that she wouldn’t dream.

xxxXxxx

Time passed. Occasionally Merlin would deliver Morgana’s sleeping draughts. She’d try to engage him in conversation; he’d blush and stammer out his answers. He was clearly flustered around her like most men around the castle were. But he stood up to Arthur when the Prince was acting particularly prat-like. Merlin was a very interesting study in contrasts.

After the tournament that featured Valiant, the magic-using knight, people began to suffer from an unusual illness that gradually killed them. Morgana watched Gwen suffer by being accused of sorcery. Of course Gwen couldn’t have done this; where was the logic in that? She also saw Merlin and Gaius struggle to identify the cause to hopefully clear Gwen’s name.

Morgana grew desperate after Uther moved up Gwen’s execution. She flew down to Gaius’s chambers to see what, if any, progress had been made. She burst through the door and announced: “They're bringing forward the execution. We have to prove Gwen's innocence.”

“We're trying,” Gaius told her.

“Please, just tell me what I can do to help,” she offered.

“We need Arthur,” Merlin said.

“Arthur?” _What for?_

“There's a creature, an Afanc, in the water supply. That's what's causing the plague.” Merlin had read the question behind the question.

“Well, we must tell Uther,” she suggested.

“The Afanc's a monster created by magic. Telling Uther wouldn't save Gwen. He'd just blame her for conjuring it,” Gaius explained.

“So what are we to do?”

“We need to destroy it. Then the plague will stop and Uther may see sense,” Merlin said.

“And that's why you need Arthur.”

“He's our best chance. But he won't want to disobey the King.”

“Leave that to me.” She’d do anything to help Gwen and it looked like Merlin would too. _Was there something between them?_ She felt an unfamiliar feeling sweep through her quickly before it was gone. They were both good servants and of the same class. If they were involved, then good for them. They both deserved to be happy.

She walked quickly to Arthur’s chambers. He’d take quite a bit of convincing before he’d defy their father, but she’d do it. She’d always had a knack for getting him to do what she wanted. Today would be no different. Today’s tactic was praising Merlin, “He was so brave to claim to be the sorcerer, just to save Gwen's life. I certainly can't imagine any man loving me so much.”

Arthur gave her an odd look. “No, I certainly can't imagine that either.”

She smirked at her brother. “That's because you're not like Merlin. He's a lover.” She could see Arthur simmering, _time to turn the screws_. “Sadly the age of gallantry seems to be dead. You look around and all you see are small men, not big enough to fill their armor. There's not one of them that’s able to stand up for what is right.”

Arthur smirked at Morgana's obvious manipulative insult. “What do you want me to do?”

Morgana explained Merlin and Gaius’s plan. Together they went to Gaius’s chambers to meet Merlin, who took them to the water supply tunnels. Like a typical man, Arthur tried to get Morgana to stay near the entrance, but she’d have none of that. Merlin looked impressed at her bravery; she felt oddly pleased.

The monster came close to hurting them, but Arthur prevailed as usual, and they escaped unscathed. They went back to Gaius with a shell they’d found and the four went to the King. Uther reluctantly gave the order for Gwen’s release. Merlin ran for Gwen’s father and they went together to free Gwen.

“Thank you!” she exclaimed.

“Don't thank me. It was more Merlin,” Morgana replied. She watched Gwen’s and Merlin’s faces. They both blushed _. Gwen clearly likes him, but does he feel the same or is he just embarrassed by the attention?_

“Really?” Gwen was surprised.

“He's the real hero here.”

“I don't know what to say.”

Merlin shrugged. “I didn't do anything.”

Just then Gwen’s father called her away. Morgana turned to Arthur’s servant. “Merlin. I wanted you to know, your secret's safe with me.”

He paled. “My secret?”

“Merlin, don't pretend. I know what you did.”

He paled even more. “You do?” He looked at the floor.

 _What’s he scared of?_ “I saw it with my own eyes.”

Just when she thought he couldn’t get any paler, he did. “You _did?_ ”

“I understand why you don't anyone to know.”

He looked up again, relieved. “Well, obviously.”

“But I won't tell anyone. You don't mind me talking to you about it?”

“Uh . . . no. I, I, it's, uh . . . you have no idea how hard it is to keep this hidden.”

“Well, you can continue to deny it, but I think Gwen's a very lucky woman.”

“Gwen?” Merlin questioned. He looked puzzled.

 _Did he not feel what Gwen obviously did?_ Morgana put a finger to her lips. “It's our secret.” She smiled as she left. _Maybe he doesn’t like her after all_. _Then what was_ he _talking about?_ But it did look like he was overcoming his awkwardness around her. _What did that mean?_ These and other questions plagued her as she walked back to her chambers.

xxxXxxx

Merlin was puzzled by the Princess’s behavior. Clearly the secret she was talking about was _not_ his magic. So that particular secret was still safe. But what on earth _was_ she talking about with “Gwen’s a lucky woman?”

He shook his head and went back to Gaius’s for dinner. After eating, Gaius gave him Morgana’s draught to deliver. He’d have to face that confusing and beguiling creature yet again.

This time Morgana opened the door herself and invited him in, closing the door behind him. His mouth went dry. “Thanks for bringing it, Merlin,” she said. She held out her hand and he handed it over. Their hands brushed and he felt an electric tingle pass between them. _What was that?_ But he didn’t have time to contemplate it further because she was speaking again. “Would you build a fire for me? I let Gwen go home so it wasn’t done earlier.”

He looked at her for a minute then nodded. “As you wish, milady.” He built her fire quickly then asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

She smiled and said, “Thank you, but I’m fine. Have a good night Merlin.”

He bowed and left the room. _What was that tingle about?_ He went back to Gaius’s chambers to ask his mentor about it. Gaius felt that it could have been Morgana’s magic reacting to his. That seemed to explain the tingle, but it didn’t explain the pull he felt toward her. He was unwilling to explain _that_ particular feeling to Gaius—it felt too personal. So Merlin was left to wonder on his own.

xxxXxxx

He didn’t get to ponder long. The castle’s staff was overcome by the impending visit of Lord Bayard of Mercia. His visit involved the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries that’d been at war for a while.

Merlin got to meet a pretty female servant from the other country, which took his mind off of Morgana. Then Arthur forced him to wear a hideous costume that no other servant had to wear. He _knew_ Arthur was just trying to give him a hard time. But he was distracted from this a few minutes later when the pretty servant drew him away with a tale of poison and revenge.

Merlin rushed back into the hall and snatched Arthur’s goblet. Of course Arthur and Uther made a big to-do about his actions and Bayard was greatly offended. But Morgana watched Merlin’s courage in the face of these powerful men and wondered. _Was he telling the truth?_

He took the goblet and drank all the wine. Gwen took a few steps forward, as if to aid him, but then Merlin was done and he looked fine. Uther gave Bayard leave to take Merlin when the servant suddenly started choking and eventually collapsed to the floor. Morgana wanted to run out there to help him, but that would’ve been improper. Arthur and Gwen rushed forward to help Gaius with himThey took him to the physician’s chambers.

The banquet broke up as Bayard and his men were arrested and thrown in the dungeon. Morgana went back to her chambers to wait for Gwen to report. Several minutes later, the maidservant entered with a frantic air. “My Lady, I am so sorry I haven't been here to attend to you.”

“Don't worry, I'm all right. How's Merlin?”

“If Arthur comes back with the antidote in time, he'll be fine.”

“Then he'll be fine.” She watched Gwen sigh heavily. “You should be with him. I'll manage. I know what he means to you. Go.” It might not be proper for _her_ to be there with Merlin, but she could send Gwen to ease her mind.

“Thank you,” Gwen replied before dashing off again.

Morgana smiled at Gwen’s eagerness. _She really has it bad for him_. Then an idea struck her—she couldn’t be there for Merlin, but maybe she could help him another way. She stood with purpose and strode all the way to Arthur’s chambers.

He hadn’t yet left when she got there, and he looked more than a little frustrated. The King had given him a lecture on how servants were “worth less” than nobility, so Arthur was forbidden to search for the cure. _Overprotective buffoon_ , she thought. Out loud she said, “Sometimes you've got to do what you think is right, and damn the consequences.”

“If I don't make it back, who will be the next king of Camelot? There's more than just my life at stake.”

 _And the prod_. “And what kind of king would Camelot want? One that would risk his life to save that of a lowly servant?” She drew Arthur's sword. “Or one who does what his daddy tells him to?” She laid the sword across her palms and presented it to her brother. _If that doesn’t get to him, nothing will_.

She watched with a smile as Arthur pulled a satchel from his wardrobe and began filling it with supplies. _I hope he can get to the cure in time for you, Merlin_.

xxxXxxx

Morning came, and with it a report from Gwen. Apparently the poison Merlin had imbibed had been strengthened by magic. Merlin had less than two days to live. She left again rather quickly, but Morgana wasn’t alone for long. Uther paid her a visit to chew her out—he suspected her of goading Arthur into going after the cure. She denied it but he didn’t believe her.

Throughout the day Gwen visited and reported. Merlin was getting worse, but all they could do for him without the cure was keep him comfortable. They had no way of knowing whether Arthur was safe or close to coming home with the cure. The only thing Morgana could do was watch out the window and pray for Arthur and Merlin.

She had gone to bed when a commotion in the courtyard woke her. _Arthur was home!_ But Uther had sent guards to intercept him. _Would he imprison his own son? But what about the cure? Did he have it? How would he get it to Gaius?_

She stayed up to wait for Gwen, but was soon overcome with fatigue again and fell asleep. She was woken early in the morning by Gwen banging the door open and calling her name. Merlin was alive and recovering from the poison. Arthur had gotten the flower after being attacked by a mysterious sorceress. Uther had thrown him in the dungeon but Gwen had gotten the flower from him. Merlin would be fine.

Morgana was relieved. Soon Merlin would be bringing her draughts again. She caught up with Arthur on the battlements; he and the King were watching Bayard and his retinue leave. Arthur told her about how he’d had some kind of supernatural help in that dark cave—someone had sent a magical light to show him the way out. He didn’t know who, but he was grateful for it.

She wondered if what Arthur had seen was a bit of _good_ magic. If Arthur was willing to believe that some magic was good, then there was hope, wasn’t there? Maybe one day he’d accept hers and eventually . . . but she couldn’t get her hopes up. The Prince needed more than one positive experience to change his mind. She could only hope that whoever was protecting Arthur would help convince him someday.

xxxXxxx

The next thing Morgana knew, Merlin was hanging around a new man in town. Gwen told her that he’d saved Merlin’s life and aspired to be a knight. The maid helped furnish this Lancelot with armor and his father’s colors, since he somehow ended up here without them.

Lancelot had appeared at the same time as this mysterious man-eating creature. Shortly after he’d arrived, he’d proved his worth to Arthur and was knighted. Gaius discovered the creature was called a griffon and could only be slain with magic. Unfortunately for Arthur, though Lancelot had fought the griffon, he’d been exposed as a liar and his knighthood was revoked. So Arthur and his knights rode out to kill the griffon with conventional weapons; it was a suicide mission.

When Morgana heard this, she locked herself in her room and prayed. Uther refused to use magic to kill it so Arthur and his men would surely die. If only Arthur’s magical protector would step in and help him. She waited in her room anxiously, only opening her door to Gwen, who told her that Lancelot had escaped the dungeon and had ridden out to help Arthur anyway.

They watched out the window anxiously, waiting for _someone_ to return. At last a small group of mounted men rode into the courtyard. A significant amount of knights had been killed, but Arthur and Lancelot were among the living.

Word spread through the castle about how _Lancelot_ had defeated the griffon. Arthur was in council with Uther to give Lancelot his knighthood back. But Lancelot intervened in the discussion, saying he wouldn’t stay and cause contention between them.

When Gwen heard this, she flew down to find Lancelot. It looked like Gwen had transferred her fancy from Merlin to Lancelot. Morgana shouldn’t have felt relieved at that, but she couldn’t deny that she was. The next morning she caught Gwen staring longingly out the window. Morgana peeked past her and saw the ex-knight riding slowly away from Camelot. It seemed that a commoner had more nobility in him than many of Camelot’s knights.

That night, when Merlin brought her draught, she asked about Lancelot. Merlin lit up and chattered away as he described how Lancelot had defeated the griffon and impressed Arthur. Morgana had sent Gwen home early since she was a bit sad, so she asked Merlin to take her dinner tray back to the kitchen. As he did every time she requested something of him, he answered, “As you wish.”


	2. Chapter 2

A couple days later, Merlin took Morgana’s draught up to her a little earlier in the evening. He wanted to ask her opinion about something and had just worked up the courage to do it. When he got to her chambers, the door was open and female voices drifted out. He paused in the doorway until they finished their conversation.

“Look what's just arrived for you,” Gwen said. She was holding a large bouquet of lilies.

“Who are they from?” Morgana asked.

“I don't know. Maybe Arthur?!”

“How disappointing.”

“Why? Who'd you like them to be from?”

“I don't know. A tall, dark stranger?”

Something erupted in Merlin’s stomach just then. _Why would Arthur give her lilies?_ _He wouldn’t; he wasn’t that thoughtful_. _So who was the mysterious man who gave Morgana the flowers?_ He shook his head to banish the thoughts from his mind. What did he care that someone gave Morgana flowers? It’s not like _he_ could give her anything. He knocked on the door.

Morgana looked up and Gwen turned around. They both said hello. Gwen sat the flowers on Morgana’s nightstand and left the room on another errand. Merlin bowed his head in respect and handed her the draught. Again their hands brushed and the flare of their magic responded to the other’s presence. His heart beat wildly for a moment before calming.

“Merlin, would you snuff the candles for me? Gwen’s left early again and I’m retiring early tonight; another nightmare kept me awake too long last night.”

The servant looked at her bed and saw that it was indeed turned down. “As you wish, milady.” He walked around the room, carefully snuffing the candles. “Is there anything else I can do for you, milady?”

“No, thank you, Merlin.” Her eyes lingered on him for slightly too long and he had to wonder at that. She’d said “tall, dark stranger,” and that loosely described _him_. Did she think _he’d_ sent the flowers? But she shook her head and said, “You may go.”

Merlin walked back to Gaius’s chambers, oddly disappointed until he realized he _had_ wanted to be the one to give Morgana flowers.

xxxXxxx

Gaius was gone when Merlin woke in the morning. After poking around here and there (and detouring to Arthur’s chambers), he found Gaius leaving Morgana’s chambers. Morgana had taken ill in the night and was “all but dead.” No one understood how Morgana could deteriorate so rapidly.

By nightfall, no one could concentrate on any task for long. The King and Prince in particular were distracted and begged Gaius for updates every five minutes all night long. Merlin assisted him as usual, and at one point, left Merlin alone with her. He sat at her bed side and took her hand. He smoothed her hair off her forehead with his other hand. “You have to live,” he told her, “The world would be so much darker without you.” He bent lower and kissed her forehead, then jerked away as Gaius reentered the room.

When Gaius proclaimed she had mere hours to live, Arthur remembered an encounter with a man claiming to be able to “cure all ills.” Uther immediately told Arthur to fetch the man so he could examine Morgana.

After Uther cleared the man, Edwin Muriden, he asked about Morgana’s illness. Arthur had his equipment moved to guest quarters and tasked Merlin to work for him temporarily. Merlin was thrilled by Edwin’s gizmos and gadgets, but was dismissed when Edwin went to heal Morgana.

In fact, no one watched Edwin heal Morgana. He demanded “peace and privacy.” But no one grew suspicious of Edwin until he avoided Gaius’s questions about his methods. Neither could anyone doubt his methods, because Morgana was fine and responding well to whatever Edwin had done.

The next day Merlin reported to Edwin and found him gone. He poked around the equipment on the table and found a small box with an inscription written in the language of magic. He read it and something started moving around in the box. Edwin entered the room just then, but it was too late. He’d seen Merlin use magic. Luckily he revealed himself as a sorcerer too, and explained how magic could be used for good. He offered to teach Merlin, but Merlin was unsure and excused himself; Edwin gave him a weird feeling.

Much later in the day, he stood in the council chambers with Arthur when Edwin entered. It seemed the King had asked Edwin to review Gaius’s work. He reported that he’d found fault with several of Gaius’s cases and theorized that he was getting too old for his job. Morgana stepped up to defend Gaius and Merlin admired her all the more for that.

Later on, Gaius was called to the King, who summarily retired Gaius and promoted Edwin to court physician. Merlin wanted Gaius to fight for it, but he refused. Gaius packed and left, refusing to let Merlin talk him out of it. Merlin tried to talk to Arthur about it, but he agreed with Uther and was no help.

Late in the night, Merlin was running an errand when Arthur found him. Uther had caught whatever had plagued Morgana. Merlin ran back to fetch Edwin and found Gaius there, at Edwin's mercy. He ended up killing Edwin to save Gaius and together they figured out what Edwin had done.

They raced to Uther’s chambers where Merlin magically healed Uther. In the morning, The King restored Gaius to his position and gave him his freedom. And Gaius “rewarded” Merlin by asking him to collect herbs for him. Merlin grumbled good-naturedly and left with his satchel and a list. He’d realized he could pick flowers for Morgana while he was out there and did so.

That evening, he visited Morgana again with the flowers and her draught. He noticed that the lilies had withered greatly and smiled to himself. He presented the draught in one hand and the bouquet he’d picked in the other.

Morgana crowed delightedly. “Ooh Merlin, these are so beautiful! Thank you!” He watched with satisfaction as she took the wilted lilies from their vase, poured fresh water into it and placed his flowers in it. “I think I should have you pick me fresh bouquets every other day or so. You really know what you’re doing.”

Now Merlin blushed and ducked his head. “As you wish, milady.”

She thanked him again and he left, practically floating back to his little room. He nearly missed Gaius’s summons to dinner and didn’t hear a word his mentor said the entire time. After dinner he wished Gaius “goodnight” and went to bed.

He lay there a long while, thinking about how Morgana had received his flowers. It was impossible to clear his mind of her. By now he’d witnessed how beautiful she was on the inside as well as the outside and loved her all the more for it.  _Wait, love? He loved her?_  He examined every thought he’d ever had of her and concluded that _yes_ , he was in love with Morgana. But then he despaired, because he was so far beneath her that she’d never notice him, let alone ever love him back.

Those thoughts cycling through his head kept him awake for a while, but finally exhaustion overwhelmed him and he fell into a troubled sleep.

xxxXxxx

The next few days were quiet. Morgana noticed that Merlin seemed a bit nervous around her again; he responded quickly to questions and requests with his usual, “as you wish,” but he sounded a bit more fervent. _What was going on with him? He couldn't possibly_ like _her, could he?_ She dismissed that, because even if he did, he was a good enough man to not act on any feelings.

One night she woke up gasping—she'd had a nightmare about Arthur drowning, from _his_ point of view. A pretty girl stood over him and was saying something. It absolutely terrified her. Was it a vision of the future, as these terrifying dreams usually were? Only time would tell.

Later that same day, Morgana was on her way to dinner when she saw a pretty blonde girl walk toward a guest room. She looked like the one from her dream. The girl looked back at her for a moment, smiled, then went into the room. Morgana approached Merlin, who appeared to be helping the girl.

“Who is that?” She asked.

“Uh . . . Sophia Tír-Mòr. We rescued her in the woods. Well, Arthur did most of the rescuing,” he replied.

 _Oh no_. “She can't stay here.”

“The King said that she and her father are welcome in Camelot. Is everything okay?”

Morgana mentally shook herself, realizing she looked overly anxious. “Yes. Thank you.” She walked away, not wanting to burden him anymore. So she went to see Gaius.

But even though Gaius sat and listened intently to her story, he dismissed it as her mind playing tricks or a mistaken identity. He told her again that the dreams were just that and had no deeper meaning. Then, even though she told them they didn't work, he gave her another sleeping draught.

She thanked him and he told her, as usual, not to bother her father with her dream. After muttering, “I understand,” she stood and left the room. It looked like she needed to find another confidante.

xxxXxxx

The next day, Morgana confided in Gwen. She suggested that Morgana talk to the King. Morgana protested on the grounds that he'd think Morgana was doing magic. He'd go ballistic and execute her. Gwen protested that he wouldn't kill his own daughter, but Morgana wasn't confident. He refused to listen to anyone when magic was even hinted at. Morgana decided she'd have to stop Sophia on her own.

A bit later in the day, she bumped into Sophia as they went to pass on the stairs. Morgana knew she'd been out with Arthur and was anxious to see if he was all right. Sophia introduced herself, but Morgana cut to the chase and confronted her about what she'd seen in her dream. The other girl just laughed and accused Morgana of jealousy. That made the Princess even angrier and ordered Sophia to stay away from Arthur. Sophia just smiled mockingly and flounced away.

Next, Morgana went to visit Arthur. She tried explaining her dream to him and warned him to stay away from Sophia. Much like Sophia, he just laughed and accused her of being jealous. _Could he be enchanted already?_ She had to shake her head and walk away from him. He refused to take her seriously, as usual. She'd just have to watch out for him as planned.

xxxXxxx

The next day, Merlin headed back to Gaius's after his second stint in the stocks in as many days. While he was there, Gaius confided in him about Morgana's dream and explained how he thought she was a seer. He felt that Arthur was in danger, but he didn't know why.

Merlin decided to watch Arthur's chambers. After a while, he saw Sophia's father, Aulfric, come out, which was odd. He tailed the man all the way to a lake where incanted a spell. Merlin blinked and suddenly small blue people with wings appeared and danced on the lake. Aulfric spoke to them, and when he was done, Merlin ran all the way back to Camelot.

He told Gaius who figured out they were dealing with Sidhe, the fairy guardians of Avalon. He concluded that Arthur was most likely enchanted because they wanted to sacrifice him to get into Avalon. Now he had to keep an even _closer_ eye on Arthur.

Later the following day, Arthur formally requested permission to marry Sophia. Everyone in the room was shocked. He backed down when Uther threatened to execute Sophia and Aulfric, but no one believed Arthur would let it go.

Morgana followed the King; she had to somehow convince him to stop Arthur. She told him Sophia was dangerous, but the King brushed that off. He thought Arthur was a fool in love, nothing more. Then he asked her how she knew Sophia was dangerous. Morgana was seriously tempted to just tell him the truth, but her nerves got the better of her. She explained she had a sense that Sophia was a “love 'em and leave 'em” type. Uther accepted that but didn't take any action. _Now what?_

xxxXxxx

Merlin just _knew_ Arthur would run off with Sophia. But he didn't expect her father to knock him unconscious. Gaius woke him and explained how Morgana had come to him. She’d begged him to help her or she'd go to Uther and explain how she really knew about Sophia and damn the consequences. Gaius stopped her by explaining he'd find help.

Merlin ran off to save Arthur. Meanwhile, Morgana hoped the help that Gaius spoke of was Arthur's mysterious magical guardian. Because if her brother was enchanted, only another magician could hope to save him. She was relieved when Merlin returned with Arthur, safe and sound. She wasn't quite sure how _he'd_ become involved, but at least he'd helped Arthur. What really mattered was Arthur's safety.

The next morning she went to visit Arthur. He told her the story Merlin and Gaius had told him: how he’d eloped with Sophia and Merlin had had to knock him out to get him back to Camelot. She thought that was amusing, but saved her brother’s ego by not laughing—until she left his chambers.

She went to visit Gaius, to see if Arthur’s story was accurate. Gaius and Merlin were there talking about who knows what, and that threw her off a bit. Instead of saying what she wanted, she ended up saying, “I've had some troubled nights.”

“I prepared another draught for you. Have the dreams stopped?” Gaius said.

She shook her head. “Arthur told me what actually happened,” she turned to Merlin, “You must've hit him round the head really hard.”

“Yeah. I feel really bad about that.” _He replied like he’d prepared the answer_.

Gaius handed her another bottle. “Here you are. Remember, every night just before you go to sleep.”

“Thank you, Gaius.” She left and went back to her chambers.

Once there, Gwen helped her change. She drank some of the new draught and got into bed. Surprisingly, she felt sleepy right away. But her sweet sleep didn’t last long. Only a couple of hours later, she woke from another nightmare. But the only thing she remembered from this one was fire and maniacal chuckling. It kept her up for most of the rest of the night.

xxxXxxx

Several days later, Merlin was walking down a random corridor on some errand for Arthur, which he promptly forgot when he heard a child screaming— _in his head_. The only other being able to do this was the dragon, so maybe this child had magic too? He looked around the corridor, but he was alone. He followed the sound of the voice into the courtyard and looked for someone in distress. Finally he saw a boy crouched by a wagon, clearly in hiding. The boy spoke in his mind again, asking for help; the searching guards would kill him. Merlin ran to a side door, closer to the boy. He bid him to run over to him, but the guards saw them anyway.

Merlin led him up the nearest staircase, which happened to be the one closest to Morgana’s chambers. That was fortunate—she was the nearest help he could think of anyway. He burst inside her room with the boy, slammed the door behind them and leaned against it to catch his breath.

Morgana and Gwen looked up. The Princess, in her shock, exclaimed, “Have you forgotten how to knock, Merlin?”

“The guards are after him. I didn't know what to do,” Merlin gasped.

As if to highlight his urgency, a knock sounded on the door. “My Lady?” Another knock then, “ _My Lady?_ ”

Morgana pointed to the curtain in front of her deep window. “In there.” She waited until Merlin and the boy were behind the curtain to open the door.

“I'm sorry to disturb you, My Lady,” the guard said. “We're searching for a young Druid boy. We believe he came this way.”

“I haven't seen anyone. It's just me and my maid.”

“Best keep the door locked till we find him.”

“Of course. Thank you.” Morgana closed the door and ran to check on the boy. He’d collapsed into Merlin's arms and the servant was covered in blood. _The boy’s blood_.

They cleaned and bound the boy’s wound as well as they could. Meanwhile, Uther had come out on his balcony to oversee the execution of the man who’d been with the boy. Among other things, he said, “Anyone found harboring the boy is guilty of conspiracy, and will be executed as a traitor.” Merlin, Morgana and Gwen exchanged glances.

Morgana finally turned from the window and said, “I can't watch this.” She walked over and sat next to the boy.

As they heard the axe fall, the boy, who’d come to a few moments earlier, went pale. In his head, Merlin heard him scream “ _NO!_ ” The mirror next to the window cracked. Merlin and Morgana exchanged a horror-filled glance—the boy was not only a Druid, he had _magic_.

Merlin left to ask Gaius some subtle questions about Druids and collect some medical supplies. When he got back to Morgana’s chambers, he found her watching over the boy like a devoted mother. “How is he?”

“He's very pale. I worry he may have lost a lot of blood.”

He walked closer to Morgana and the boy. “Has he said anything at all?”

“Nothing. He won't even tell me his name.”

“You know, uh, for a moment there earlier, I-I thought you were going to hand us over to the guards.”

Morgana pretended to be affronted. “I'm glad you have so much faith in me, Merlin.” She stood.

“No, no, sorry. Um, I meant, you're the King's daughter. You're taking a huge risk helping the boy.”

“I wouldn't see an innocent child executed. What harm has he ever done anyone?”

Merlin decided to play devil’s advocate. “Uther believes he has magic, and that makes him guilty.”

“My father's wrong.”

“You believe that?” He was amazed by her courage; one of the many reasons he’d fallen for her.

She’d subconsciously walked a lot closer to him. “What if magic isn't something you choose? What if it chooses you?” He was looking at her like she’d given him the key to her heart. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He glanced away briefly, embarrassed at being caught staring. “No reason.”

“Why are _you_ helping him?”

“It was a spur of the moment decision.” _Well, it was only half a lie_. “What do you think we should do with him? He can't stay here.”

“We have to find a way to get him back to his people.”

She had to ask him to leave then, because she had to dress for dinner. Merlin just blushed and said, “As you wish.” It’s not like he’d stay anyway, but just the thought of her undressing . . . he really had to find something to do to take his mind off of _that_ thought.

xxxXxxx

Merlin came by again, after dinner. He discovered that the boy had a raging fever and concluded that his wound was infected. He decided to treat him on his own; Gaius wouldn’t want to be involved since he’d already warned Merlin not to get drawn in. At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

Morgana shoved Merlin behind a screen with the boy and opened the door to Arthur. He was looking for the boy and wanted to search her room. She delayed and annoyed him enough that he got disgusted and left; Morgana and Merlin breathed sighs of relief. They stared at each other for a long moment before Merlin muttered that he’d better go collect supplies to help the boy, and left.

Morgana sighed and went to sit next to the boy. She dripped water between his lips and cooled his forehead with a wet cloth. These measures would help but they wouldn’t cure the infected wound.

Merlin came back much later than she thought he would. “What took you so long?” she asked.

“Sorry. Once Gaius gets talking about anatomy, there's no stopping him.” She looked confused but didn’t ask; he moved past her to treat the boy.

“Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?”

He sighed mentally. “I'm doing my best.”

“I'll get you some more water.”

The boy opened his eyes slightly and spoke into Merlin’s mind again, “ _Thank you, Emrys_.”

He replied the same way. “ _Emrys? Why do you call me that?_ ”

“ _Among my people, that is your name_.”

“ _You know who I am. How?_ ” The boy’s eyes closed. “Speak to me,” he tried, but the boy had fallen unconscious again.

Morgana had been watching them. “I don't know if he can't speak, or . . . he's just too scared to.”

Merlin frowned. The boy knew something about him that he’d never heard before, and he wanted to know more. He’d ask Gaius, but then he’d know Merlin had lied. So that just left the dragon, and he had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t like what the dragon had to say.

He made small talk with Morgana while he finished treating the boy. After that, he made his excuses and left. He was sure Morgana thought he was flighty and unsure of himself, but he simply had this need to know. So he snuck through the castle to visit his scaly mentor.

The dragon told him all about the name Emrys, but also warned him not to help the boy. Of course he didn’t explain _why_ he shouldn’t help the boy, and just flew off. Merlin ended up leaving in the usual foul mood he found himself in after talking to that creature.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Gwen found Morgana treating the still-feverish Druid boy. She sat there holding him, half-asleep when she heard, “ _Morgana_.” She startled and asked Gwen if she’d heard that too, but she hadn’t. Then there was a knock and Gwen opened the door to find Merlin.

He asked how the boy was doing and Morgana let him have it. “He's getting weaker. Whatever you did yesterday, it hasn't worked. We have to ask Gaius for his help. After all you've done, you can't give up now! _Please!_ If he doesn't receive treatment, he'll die!”

“Okay,” he replied meekly and went off to fetch Gaius. The physician scolded Merlin, but he finally agreed to help. He went with Merlin to Morgana’s chambers and did what he could, but warned the co-conspirators to get the boy out of Camelot as soon as possible.

After he left, Merlin, Morgana and Gwen made some decisions about how to get the boy to safety. Morgana would take him through a secret door in the armory. _S_ he knew Uther wouldn’t execute her if she was caught. Merlin offered to get the key she’d need—Arthur had it.

After he’d obtained it, he returned to Morgana. She was dressed in Gwen’s clothes and ready to go. The boy looked much better after proper treatment. Morgana took the boy’s hand and led him down to the armory and out through the secret door. Merlin and Gwen went to Gwen’s house to prepare supplies for them.

Unfortunately, a serving girl had seen Morgana with the boy, and that news made it to Arthur. He searched the armory and had the warning bells sounded. This made the Princess and the boy run faster to Gwen’s house. They quickly said goodbye and left again, only Arthur found them shortly after. The boy went to the dungeon and Morgana was taken to the King where he dressed her down severely, and even attempted to choke her.

Merlin came to her chambers in the morning. She looked a little worse for wear, but was only concerned for the Druid boy. “I promised that I wouldn't let anything bad happen.”

He walked a little closer to her and dared to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You can't blame yourself. You tried your best.”

“It's not enough.”

“He's in jail now. There's nothing more we can do.” He just wanted to keep Morgana safe.

“I will not let him die. Can I count on your help?”

Merlin thought for a long moment before he nodded. _I’m_ so _far gone for her_.

“Thank you.” She leaned closer and kissed his cheek.

Later, he couldn’t remember if she’d said anything else—he was floating. He only remembered saying, “As you wish,” and bowing before he left her chambers.

xxxXxxx

Morgana wracked her brain for who else could help her and came up with only one name—Arthur. So she dropped in on him when she knew he was back from dinner with the King. She was blunt and to the point, asking him to go against Uther and help her.

She was still in the middle of pleading with him when Merlin bumbled through the door. Arthur tried to dismiss him, but then Morgana said, “I trust him.” The three of them came up with a plan—Morgana would dine with Uther while Arthur broke the boy out of the dungeon and escaped through tunnels there. Merlin would bring a horse and rope to pull off the grate so they could get out of the tunnel and leave.

After Merlin agreed to do all this, he had an attack of conscience and visited the dragon again. He demanded to know why he shouldn’t help the boy, and once he heard the answer he wished he hadn’t asked. The dragon told him the boy was destined to kill Arthur someday. Merlin didn’t want to believe it, so he left and walked back to his room.

He lay in his bed and thought about the problem _ad nauseum_ , but it just wouldn’t resolve itself. Eventually the boy started calling to his mind, which just brought him close to tears with indecision. Finally he gave in, collected everything he needed and went to rescue Arthur and the boy. After they’d mounted the horse to go, the boy bade him a mental goodbye and promised they’d see each other again.

xxxXxxx

Morgana was still dining with the King when the news of the boy’s escape came. Uther was furious and threatened Morgana. She just stared back at him proudly, knowing he had no grounds to punish her this time. As soon as she could, she went back to her chambers.

Merlin was waiting for her there, which was surprising. She closed her door and ran over to him. “Thank you,” she said, grabbing his forearms. Then she looked into his face. “What is it? What's wrong?”

“You've risked so much for this boy. You don't know anything about him. You don't even know his name,” he said.

“There's a bond between us.”

“Stronger than the bond you have with Uther?”

“It's like nothing I've ever felt before. Perhaps I was always meant to help him.”

“How can that be?”

“I don't know. I can't explain it.”

Merlin sighed and shook his head. “Well, the plan worked. Arthur and the boy made it out of Camelot safely. If Uther asks, he went hunting.”

“Okay.” She looked around her room and sat on her bed. “I feel rather useless, but at least they got away.”

“Is there anything else you need, milady?”

“Can you find Gwen for me and ask her to attend me? _Please?_ ”

“As you wish.” He bowed briefly and left. _She said_ she _felt useless—I’m the one that nearly got them caught!_ He felt devoid of happiness then remembered how she’d kissed his cheek. Suddenly he felt much better and floated down the corridor back to his room.

xxxXxxx

Arthur’s birthday was about a week later—he’d come of age to be officially sworn in as the Crown Prince of Camelot. He was excited and drove everyone around him crazy with his enthusiasm.

The Great Hall was filled to capacity with people for the ceremony. Uther had just finished proclaiming Arthur Crown Prince when a black-armored knight on a horse burst through the stained-glass window. The horse walked to Arthur and the Black Knight threw down a gauntlet. Arthur sheathed his sword to pick up the gauntlet, but Sir Owain got there first.

Arthur was very annoyed that he hadn’t gotten the gauntlet. He’d ended up in Morgana’s chambers with her, Gwen and Merlin. Morgana suggested that he end the fight, but he rejected that. Next she suggested he take Owain’s place, but the Knights’ Code prevented that. Even though it was a fight to the death, he couldn’t do anything about it.

The next morning Owain was quickly overcome by the other knight’s sheer strength. Before Owain had even fallen down, the Black Knight had turned to face the royal box. He took off his gauntlet and tossed it to the ground. Arthur made to stand, but his father held him down. Sir Pellinor took up the gauntlet.

While everyone discussed the knight’s chances, Merlin and Gaius discovered the Black Knight’s identity. He was Tristan de Bois, Arthur’s uncle, who’d been killed decades earlier by Uther. He was a wraith—the spirit of a dead man conjured from the grave. No mortal weapon could harm it. Sure enough, Pellinor fell to the Black Knight the next day. This time, Arthur took off his gauntlet and threw it at the Knight’s feet. He set the same standards for his duel as before. Uther hated this and wanted to stop it, but Arthur quoted Uther’s own rules at him, which forced Uther to consider more drastic measures to stop his son.

Merlin, meanwhile, worked at the problem from a different angle. He first tried to kill the wraith himself, with no success. Then he tried to talk Arthur out of the fight, but Arthur tossed him out. Lastly, he learned that a sword burnished in a dragon’s flame could slay the dead. So he asked Gwen for a sword made by her blacksmith father and took it to the dragon, who magically burnished it by flame.

Morgana also tried to talk Arthur out of fighting, but he didn’t listen to her either. But Uther came up with a plan—he had Gaius drug Arthur to sleep so he could take his place; it worked. In the morning, Uther took the sword Merlin had made and eliminated the wraith.

Arthur was angry, but let his father explain why he’d done what he did. The dragon was angry that Uther had used his sword and told Merlin to cast it where no one could find it. So Merlin threw it into the Lake of Avalon, figuring the Sidhe would keep anyone from it, at least.

xxxXxxx

Two days later, Merlin was walking into the lower town to collect water and ran into his mother, Hunith. He was surprised, but became upset when he saw the bruises on her face. He took her to Gaius then listened to her story—a group of bandits had raided their village to take most of their food. They gave them a deadline to offer up the rest and promised to return.

Merlin went to Arthur to see if he could arrange an audience with his father. A bit later in the day, Hunith faced the three royals. Uther listened to her story and plea for help, but ultimately denied it. Morgana glared at Uther and stepped down from the dais to help Hunith to her feet. She walked with her all the way back to Gaius’s chambers.

Morgana was so annoyed that she went to Arthur. But once again, Arthur was unwilling to oppose his father. Morgana stomped off to her chambers, determined to go by herself. She told Gwen what she’d planned, and the compassionate maid decided she’d join her mistress. Gwen ran to Merlin and told him to come to her house with her.

Once they got there, Gwen offered him a sword and a bit of armor. Before he could protest, Morgana stepped into the room. “We're coming with you.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, shocked. _She can’t be serious_.

“You're going to need all the help you can get. I can mend armor and sharpen swords,” Gwen replied.

“And I know how to fight,” Morgana declared.

“But y-y-you can't. I mean, why would you?” Merlin was so confused. _Risking her life for_ me _?_

“If it was the other way around, you'd help us. You already have—you saved _my_ life,” Gwen answered.

“And you helped me get the Druid boy out of Camelot. We owe it to you. Both of us,” Morgana said.

Merlin was overjoyed. He _did_ have friends here who valued him. And _Morgana_ was coming! He fell for her just a little more at that. This beautiful, selfless woman wanted to help _him_. His heart swelled and his face flushed a bit. He and his mother _wouldn’t_ be alone.

After he’d hugged Gaius and took his leave of Arthur, Merlin and Hunith met the two other women in the courtyard. Four horses waited, and together they set off for Ealdor.

xxxXxxx

After Morgana and Gwen had gone to bed, Hunith and Merlin talked at the campfire. Their first subject was Morgana, naturally. Hunith had noticed how Merlin watched her and hung on her every word. She told him to be careful with her, as Morgana was highborn _and_ daughter of the man who’d execute him. She made him promise again to keep his secret. After that conversation, they went to bed.

If felt like only a few minutes later when something woke Merlin. He listened groggily and heard a horse in the woods nearby. He got up to look and nearly decapitated Arthur in his surprise. _He’d actually defied his father_. Despite the trouble he knew Arthur would be in, Merlin was glad to see him.

The group rode most of the day only to find the bandits plundering Ealdor. Arthur chucked his sword stop one from killing a man; he'd found Kanen, the leader. The prince dismounted and began fighting whichever bandit was closest. The others, even Merlin, soon joined him.

They fought for a few minutes and eventually scared the bandits off. Kanen vowed revenge, of course. Merlin got to talk to his old friend, Will, before Arthur ordered him to gather the villagers for a meeting. Will scoffed at Arthur's speech but the other villagers were willing to fight. Merlin tried to talk Will 'round, but he wouldn't listen. Everyone retired early because Arthur would begin training the village men the next day.

xxxXxxx

After breakfast, Arthur assigned their group various tasks. Merlin chopped wood while Gwen and Morgana sharpened swords. Arthur began training the men who were willing to fight. Training men who'd never used a sword to fight with one wasn't easy. Arthur despaired until Gwen and Morgana approached him with the idea to let the women fight. He had to admit it was appealing, but ruled it out. Everyone went to bed that night exhausted and losing hope.

But before Merlin went to sleep, he heard Morgana and Gwen talking. “We don't stand a chance,” Gwen said.

“Arthur can't see that. He's too stubborn,” Morgana replied.

“Why do you think he came here?”

“The same reason we did: _Merlin_. Arthur may act like he doesn't care, but he wouldn't be here if he didn't.”

Merlin's heart swelled. That confirmed what his mother had said. It also confirmed what his heart knew—that Morgana cared enough to help _him_ , a lowly peasant. And with that pleasant thought, he drifted off to sleep.

Sometime later, Merlin woke suddenly; a voice had ripped into his mind. His favorite voice, though not one he'd ever heard in his _head_. He looked over at Morgana, just a couple feet away. He blankets were twisted around her and she lay awake also, staring at the ceiling. “Morgana?” he whispered.

Her head tuned to face him. “Merlin?” she whispered back.

He nodded toward the door. They both moved as quietly as they could, putting on their boots and jackets. He brought his blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders once they were outside. “A dream?” he asked.

“It was . . . Oh Merlin, I saw your friend die.”

“ _What?_ Who, Will?”

“Yes. It was right after . . . Right after . . . Merlin, is Will a sorcerer?”

The blood rushed from Merlin's face. “What?”

“The battle—things were going badly and I saw one of you, I couldn't see who, create a whirlwind. And Arthur sees!”

“Oh no—”

“Will claims it's him and before Arthur can do anything, Kanen kills Will.”

Merlin was silent for a long moment. “I have to stop him,” he said finally. But he didn't say which “him.”

Morgana was confused but threw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.” Merlin was shocked again, but enjoyed the hug while it lasted. He wanted to hold onto her forever, but let her pull back. “We should go back to bed.”

He nodded. “As you wish.”

xxxXxxx

Most of the villagers and the party from Camelot gathered in the village common building in the morning. Arthur was explaining a new strategy—luring the bandits into a trap. A scream sounded outside; all the men went out to see a body draped over a horse. It was Matthew, the man Arthur had sent to look out. He had a note pinned to him that said, “Make the most of this day, it will be your last.”

Once again, Will tore into Arthur. He blamed him for Matthew’s death and stomped off. Merlin went to talk to Arthur. The Prince looked depressed; Merlin did his best to convince Arthur that they _did_ have a chance to win; Arthur just had to believe in the villagers.

That night they had another meeting in the common building. Arthur started to give the women instructions when Gwen protested. She told him the women had as much right to fight for the village as the men did. Arthur looked around and saw the other women nodding. _They agreed_. So he changed his speech, telling everyone that it _was_ their right to fight for their families and homes. By the time he finished, he’d convinced even himself that they could really pull this off.

While Merlin dressed Arthur in the morning, he was sorely tempted to reveal his magic to him. But Morgana interrupted the moment with news that the bandits were coming. All three rushed out to take their places. Everyone had different traps to spring. Gwen’s group trapped men inside a fence. Morgana was to light a fire that would spread down a small ditch. No fire appeared when her time came, so Merlin took off to help her. He knelt and took the flint to pretend to use it. She glanced away so he whispered, “ _Bærne_ ,” and the fire lit.

He didn’t know it, but Morgana had turned back just in time to see his eyes flash gold. She dismissed it as the fire reflecting off his eyes and praised him for his quick work. He warmed at this, but had no time to relish the feeling. The battle had begun.

Will jumped into the fray, surprising Merlin. They fought side by side. At first the villagers appeared to be holding their own with all sorts of makeshift weapons. But soon the tide turned; Merlin and Will stood side-by-side and watched. They concluded that there were just too many bandits, so Merlin stretched out his hand and called a whirlwind into existence. Too late he remembered Morgana’s dream—Arthur was behind them and had seen the magic happen. But he was distracted by Kanen.

The Prince and Kanen fought, and eventually Arthur ran him through. Kanen fell and everyone, including Morgana, was relieved. Arthur turned to confront Merlin and Will, and Merlin was about to confess when Kanen aimed a crossbow at Arthur. Too late Morgana recognized the scene from her dream, but her shout came too late—Will had jumped in front of Arthur to save him.

Several men came over to carry Will to his house; his wound was mortal. The others departed, leaving Will with Merlin and Arthur. Will knew he only had a few minutes and confessed to being the sorcerer. Seeing Will’s pain, Arthur decided not to condemn him and left Merlin alone with him. They talked for a few minutes before Will died.

At Will’s funeral, Arthur gave his condolences then berated Merlin for not telling him about the sorcerer. Merlin was glad he hadn’t shared his secret. Arthur left and Hunith walked up. She talked him out of staying with a few wise words, “You have to go, Merlin. You belong at Arthur's side. I've seen how much he needs you. How much you need him. You're like two sides of the same coin.”

Several minutes later, Gwen, Morgana, Arthur, and Merlin were mounted and ready to ride for Camelot. They thanked Hunith and returned the villagers’ waves and thanks. It was time to go home.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days later, Arthur took some of his men and Merlin on a hunt. They had little success until it was almost time to head back—something large moved in the bushes. Merlin discovered a unicorn, of all things. But Arthur didn’t heed his warning to leave it alone and killed it. He cut off the horn as a prize to take to his father.

The next morning, the problems started. All the edible plants in the kingdom had rotted overnight. There was only so much grain stockpiled in the citadel, so rationing began. And with that came dissension from looting and hoarding. Later in the day, the water supply ran dry. The only water they had was that which had been stored. Uther instigated a curfew and Arthur and his men were tasked with patrolling the city.

While patrolling, the Prince saw someone enter the castle. He appeared in front of them and gave Arthur a message—by killing the unicorn, Arthur had unleashed a curse upon Camelot. The only way to reverse it was to pass tests he’d be set. Arthur refused to believe the man. The next night, Merlin stood watch with Arthur. They caught a man stealing some of the grain. He explained about his hungry children, so Arthur let him go free. Before he left, he said something odd: “You have shown yourself to be merciful and kind, My Lord. This will bring its own reward.”

Water started flowing the next day. Merlin suggested the water was a reward for passing the test. The Prince still didn’t want to admit he was responsible, but when he saw more and more people queuing up for grain rations, he began to reconsider. He decided that they’d go to the forest in the morning to look for the unicorn keeper, Anhora. Arthur found the man from the grain store camped out with a huge amount of horded food. The Prince was aghast and the man goaded him into a fight, which Arthur won. The taunting was a test to see if Arthur would put others before his pride and he failed. Anhora promised that Camelot would suffer dearly for it.

When they returned, they found that the remaining grain in the store had rotted. There was now next to nothing to eat. Uther decided to save what was left for the army. Arthur objected, but Uther said he’d rather starve than ask for help. It was then Arthur realized why he’d been condemned for his pride. Merlin ran into the forest to beg Anhora for help. Merlin told him Arthur had repented, so Anhora relented and told Merlin to send Arthur to the Labryrinth of Gedref to face a final test.

Arthur immediately packed up and left. Merlin followed him at a distance, but Anhora captured him and said he was part of the test. So Merlin had no choice but to wait for Arthur to get through the maze.

Arthur was surprised to see Merlin and berated him for following. Anhora interrupted to explain the test. Two goblets sat in front of the men; one had poison. Each could only drink from one goblet. They discussed it, but Arthur realized what he had to do—he poured the contents of the other goblet into the one in front of him and drank it. That proved he was willing to die for someone else, so he passed the test. Merlin was relieved to learn the liquid was only a sleeping potion; Arthur would be fine.

xxxXxxx

Morgana looked out over the lower town. People staggered around, too hungry to care about much. A sudden shout drew her attention—a man was running through town, and wherever he went, people began celebrating. She left her window and ran down to the front steps.

She met the King on the way, and together they met the fatigued but joyous man. It seems the crops and fruit-bearing trees had revitalized themselves. He brought proof in the form of a perfectly-formed apple. The King smiled widely and told the man to take him to see the miracle. He ordered all the men around to follow him so they could help harvest and bring back the food. Morgana wanted to follow, but he bid her instruct several servants to set up tables in the courtyard, so everyone could enjoy the food together.

Morgana was shocked, but did as she was bid. She also warned the kitchen to be ready for an influx of food and orders to prepare it. Then she went to her room to wait for Arthur and Merlin to return. A few hours later, she saw them trudge into the courtyard and stare in surprise at all the food. Morgana again ran down to them. She threw her arms around Arthur for a hug, and nearly did the same to Merlin.

Arthur excused himself and Merlin—he explained they had a small task to accomplish before they joined the celebration. But when they returned, they participated wholeheartedly.

Merlin visited with her sleeping draught that evening. Morgana made him explain what their “small task” had been. He told her that they’d taken the unicorn horn into the forest and buried it. Morgana was amazed by this, but even more amazed after he told her the unicorn had reappeared. She rejoiced at this and gave Merlin the hug she’d withheld earlier. He blushed and stammered that he had other things to do, then left.

Morgana felt oddly bereft at his departure. It must be that strange pull she’d felt since he’d come to Camelot. The feeling hadn’t diminished at all, and she had to wonder if it was him or something _about_ him that attracted her. But as she pondered it, she found the difference didn’t matter.

xxxXxxx

A few mornings later, Morgana was woken by Gwen running into her room, which was unusual for her. Her father, Tom the blacksmith, had been arrested for consorting with a sorcerer. She put on a robe and flew downstairs to find Arthur, Uther or both and demand an explanation. She didn’t even bother with slippers. “ _Treason?!_ ” she yelled at them. She couldn’t believe Uther would condemn Tom without proof, and tried to get Arthur on her side. But Uther wouldn’t listen to him either. For a parting shot, she spat, “You execute Gwen's father, and I will never forgive you. _Never_.”

Gwen had run off after she’d woken up Morgana, so the Princess dressed herself and went looking for her. She first checked her house, then the forge. She wasn’t there, but something drew her inside anyway. There was a small pouch on the floor, which she picked up and carried to her room. She opened it up and looked at the stone—it felt _magical_. There was no other word for it. So she hid the stone and pouch and went to see Merlin, who’d know where Gwen was.

She found Gwen sleeping on Merlin’s bed. “How is she?” she asked him.

“She's doing okay,” he replied.

“We should let her rest.” She headed for the door.

“Yeah.” Merlin followed her out, stopping at the bottom of the steps there. “Morgana, have you spoken to Uther? He must realize this is a mistake. Whatever Tom was doing, it wasn't plotting against the King.”

She got very close to him; he nearly couldn’t breathe. “I know that. Of course I do. But Uther . . . Uther only sees enemies.”

He noticed how disgusted she was. “But Tom is the gentlest soul I've ever met.”

“But he was seen with Tauren, and that makes him an enemy.” She turned to leave.

“Then . . .” She stopped to face him. “. . . there's little hope?”

“There's no hope, Merlin. None at all.” She looked so lost that he wanted to run over and hold her, but he didn’t think that would go over well, so he restrained himself.

As Morgana walked out, she thought that Merlin looked unsure about something, but shoved that aside as a plan came to mind. She went to Arthur’s chambers, made sure he wasn’t there, then found the key to the dungeon cell. She ran with it down to the dungeon and gave Tom the key.

Tom snuck out that night, but he was caught, and, under Uther’s order, killed on sight. Gaius gave Gwen the terrible news and she began crying hysterically. She ran outside as fast as she could, only to see him on a cart, covered and ready to be dumped in a hole. But she took the cart and spirited him away, where she presumably found somewhere else to bury him.

Morgana felt guilty for a while, but that was soon burned away by blinding anger. She strode to Uther’s study to confront him. She yelled, called him a murderer and accused him of “ruling by the sword.” She also called the kingdom “doomed” and told him he was a mad man. He told her she was close to treason and had better stop or be restrained. She told him to “just try.” He called the guards and had her hauled to the dungeon, where he told her she’d be let out when she’d “learned her lesson.”

After nightfall, Merlin snuck down with Arthur to give Morgana her sleeping draught. Arthur let him in and left, so they were alone. “Morgana, I know you’re angry, but Gwen needs you right now.”

“I know. And maybe I shouldn’t have confronted my father. But I was _so_ angry at him! He gave that order, and Merlin, I . . . I took Arthur’s key and gave it to Tom. It’s my fault he’s dead.” She looked like she’d cry any minute now.

Merlin walked closer. “Morgana, you made a bad decision, but it was Tom who chose to escape. You didn’t force him to do it.”

Tears began running down her face. “I know, but that doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.”

He came closer still and put a hand on her shoulder. The warmth soothed Morgana and she stopped sniffing. “ _Please_ stop beating yourself up. You need to be strong for her. This may help.” He held up the draught bottle. “You can at least sleep tonight.” She nodded so he uncapped the bottle and put a hand to her face. She shivered at that, and he looked concerned, but waited for her to open her mouth.

Morgana opened her mouth and he tipped the liquid into it. Once she’d swallowed, he removed his hand from her face. She nearly swooned at that and berated herself; _what was wrong with her?_ But she asked him to help her arrange the straw so she could sleep. “As you wish,” he said, and helped as she’d asked. He also helped her sit and sat himself down next to her. “Will you be all right?”

“I think so. Thank you, for everything.” She waved her hand at her bed.

He smiled and stood. “All part of the service.” He bowed and left.

She immediately missed his presence. He seemed to bring warmth and light to her dingy cell, and now that he was gone, it was gone. Fortunately she’d taken the draught—maybe it would work this time.

xxxXxxx

Arthur came in the morning to let her out, and she went right back to her chambers. Gwen was there, looking quite despondent. Learning about Morgana’s imprisonment made her feel worse, so the Princess tried to send her home. She refused and told Morgana how Tauren had threatened her last night, demanding some _stone_. Morgana instantly knew what she was talking about, and another plan formed in her mind—she’d meet Tauren with the stone and get him to kill Uther for her.

When Morgana snuck out, Merlin happened to be watching. He followed her and watched her make the deal with Tauren. He couldn’t believe it. Morgana was headstrong, but he never imagined she’d do something like _this_. He couldn’t decide whether to stop her or not, so he went to the dragon. That turned out to be a mistake; _he_ wanted Uther to die. So he ended up asking Gaius, sort of. Gaius defended the King, despite the bad decisions he occasionally made.

Morgana apologized to her father, albeit in a backhanded way. Later Uther approached her to make peace and they agreed to go to Gorlois’s grave the next day. Gorlois raised her for the first ten years of her life and she still considered him a dear father-figure. That night, she met briefly with Tauren to give him the details. Unbeknownst to either, Merlin was watching then too.

The next morning Uther and Morgana left with a few guards. Merlin watched from Arthur’s chambers; Gwen found him there. Merlin decided to ask her what she thought about Uther, since she was the one who’d most recently suffered at his hand. He asked her, “If you had the power of life and death over Uther, would you kill him? For what he did?”

Her reply stunned him. “No! What would that solve? That would make me a murderer. That would make me as bad as _him_.”

He ran off, confusing Gwen in the process. But he had a King to save and a Princess to save from herself. He took his newly-acquired Sidhe staff from under his bed and ran all the way to Gorlois’s grave. He had to kill two thugs before Tauren showed himself and knocked Merlin unconscious.

Meanwhile, Morgana and Uther were at the gravestone. Any minute now, Tauren would come up the hill and attack Uther. The King talked about how much he missed Gorlois, but when he expressed his regret for killing Tom, she changed her mind. Of course Tauren chose that moment to attack. He and Uther wrestled, and Uther was losing until she picked up his fallen dagger and stabbed Tauren. Merlin woke in time to see Uther alive and Morgana kill the sorcerer. He sighed in relief and began walking home.

xxxXxxx

Several days later, Arthur drug Merlin out on _another_ hunt. He didn’t really enjoy hunting, but someone had to keep the Prince from being skewered, bitten, run over, et cetera. Only this time they ran into something truly frightening –it had a snake head and a scaly leopard body. It hissed and screeched at them, but they didn’t stay around long enough to listen; they just ran. Of course Merlin tripped, so Arthur and Sir Bedivere stopped to help him, but that was the end of Bedivere.

Gaius called the creature the Questing Beast; it was “supposed to foreshadow a time of great upheaval.” The King dismissed that and told Arthur to go kill the thing since it was clearly dangerous. Merlin was ready to dismiss it as folklore too until Gaius told him there was no cure for its bite. He knew then he had to accompany Arthur on his quest.

Morgana woke from a nightmare early the next morning—she’d seen Arthur’s death. She leapt out of bed and ran to the courtyard where Arthur was instructing his men. “Arthur!”

He turned at her voice, puzzled. She was still in her nightgown, no slippers. “Morgana, what are you doing?”

“You _cannot_ face this!” she yelled at him. She tried to grab him and he struggled to put her off.

“Morgana, go back to bed. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

 _Why isn’t he listening?_ “Please, Arthur. I have seen terrible things! You _cannot_ go!”

“She probably had a bad dream, Sire. I'll take her to see Gaius,” Merlin told Arthur.

“No! You can’t go!” _Please Arthur_.

“Please, Merlin, get her inside.”

“ _No!_ ” Arthur handed her off to Merlin and motioned for the guards to come down.

Merlin guided her up the steps.  He lowered his voice, “You had a dream?”

She whispered back, “Yes. I saw you screaming and Arthur dying.”

“That’s . . . I will make sure he's safe, milady. I promise.”

“Bring him home in one piece.”

His sapphire eyes looked right into hers for a long moment; she nearly gasped at the emotion she read there. “As you wish,” he said and let her go. He turned to walk back to Arthur.

She stopped struggling and watched him. The guards flanked her to lead her inside, but she told them to wait, because she realized something at that moment. When he said, “ _As you wish_ ,” what he was _really_ saying was, “ _I love you_.”

Morgana watched as the knights formed ranks and were led out by Arthur, with Merlin at his side. This gentle, kind, selfless man loved _her_. And to think she thought he loved Gwen. She remembered telling Arthur, “he’s a lover, not a fighter,” and “I certainly can't imagine any man loving me so much.” But now she could. And she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

xxxXxxx

Merlin brought Arthur home in one piece, but he wasn’t whole. The Questing Beast had bitten him, so he had a slow and painful death ahead of him. Merlin proved to be scarce the next few days while Arthur lay dying; fortunately Gaius found a cure quickly.

Merlin stopped by Morgana’s chambers shortly after Arthur woke. She opened her door to him with some surprise. “You’ve been busy,” she said, closing the door behind him.

“You have no idea,” he replied.

She led him to sit at her table, and watched his face for a long moment. “What is it? What’s wrong? Arthur’s alive and well . . .”

“It’s my mother. She’s here and gravely ill—Gaius can’t cure her without this rare herb. But it grows in dangerous territory and I don’t want to leave her.”

“Oh Merlin. I’ll have Gwen look after her while you’re gone, if that will help.”

“Thank you. She’s with her now, so I’ll just tell her you said to stay.” He smiled briefly and sighed.

“That’s not really what’s bothering you, is it?” She put her hand over his.

“No . . . it’s just that . . . this trip will be risky and I’m afraid I won’t make it back. So I didn’t want to leave without . . .”

She tried to catch his eye, but he was looking down. She squeezed his hand. “Without what?”

He looked up at her then. He twisted his hand under hers so his palm faced up and his fingers laced with hers. “Without telling you how I feel.”

“About me?”

“Yes.”

“Merlin, I know.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “You know? _How?_ ”

“It’s how you look at me, how you act when you say, ‘as you wish.’”

Now he chuckled ironically. “You figured me out.” He glanced down then back up. “Morgana, I know you can’t or don’t return my feelings, but I . . .”

She put her other hand on his mouth. “Shh.” She removed her hand. “I’m not sure _how_ I feel yet. But I believe in you and I believe you can do this and come back safely.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “Take this as a favor.” She leaned close and put her arms around him tightly.

He didn’t say anything for a whole minute. “You . . . me . . . ah, thank you?”

“There you go.” She dropped her hands. “Now go. And come home safely.” He stood. “Good luck.”

He bowed low and said, “As you wish,” then left.

Morgana stared after him. She was sure he still wasn’t telling the whole truth, but she had a feeling he’d return. And when he was ready, he _would_ tell her the whole truth.

xxxXxxx

Merlin did, in fact, return the next evening, with Gaius. _When had_ he _left?_ Neither explained exactly what had happened, but Hunith _was_ cured. After a few days, she returned home and life returned to normal—or as normal as life could get in Camelot.

Then Uther decided to dig for treasure under Camelot. He’d heard there were tombs buried down there filled with fabulous riche, so he set up teams to dig around the clock. Unfortunately that meant the castle denizens didn’t sleep much. Gwen and Morgana slept even less—the Princess kept having horrible nightmares about a raven flying, its caw meaning something terrible for Camelot.

Treasure _was_ found underneath Camelot. Arthur was tasked to guard it and Gaius became preoccupied with discovering whose tomb they’d found. Morgana didn’t see a lot of Merlin. _He_ was preoccupied with trying to stay on Arthur’s good side. The Prince had hired a new servant who went out of his way to make Merlin look bad.

Eventually Merlin got so fanatic about Cedric, the new servant, that he was sacked _again_. He was also thrown in the dungeon just as Camelot came under attack from its own gargoyles. Cedric was found to be possessed by the spirit of the sorcerer whose tomb they’d found; _he’d_ woken the gargoyles.

Arthur, of course, fought the living statuary. He came back injured a little later. Morgana, who’d left her chambers to help Gaius in his temporary hospital, helped Gwen treat him. Uther came by to tell Arthur he was sealing the citadel. The Prince protested and went back outside to fight the monsters again. Morgana was so worried that she thought she saw _Merlin_ talking to Gaius. But when she looked again, he wasn’t there.

The monsters bashed the castle about until those inside were sure it would come apart. After a few minutes, an ominous silence fell. A few more minutes passed and Gaius dared to go outside; he called for help to bring Arthur and other survivors inside. The Prince had been knocked unconscious again, but he’d be fine with a bit of rest. Arthur released Merlin from jail and apologized in a backhanded manner, but re-hired him.

xxxXxxx

A jousting tournament soon approached, and oddly enough, Arthur wouldn’t be participating. Some odd creature had been found terrorizing villages around the northern border and he felt it his duty to end it. Of course only he, Merlin and Gwen knew he’d _really_ be competing in the tournament incognito to prove he didn’t need special treatment. He’d discovered his knights had been going easy on him.

All Morgana knew was the impressive new knight, Sir William of Deira, was very good at the joust. And even though Arthur was gone, Merlin was twice as busy as normal. She couldn’t figure it out. Soon she was glad the Prince was away—an assassin was somewhere in Camelot looking for him.

The final joust arrived and Sir William was up against Sir Alinor. Somehow Sir William was gravely wounded, but returned with Gwen’s help. He knocked Sir Alinor so hard that the girth strap on his horse broke. He tumbled from his horse and was killed in the fall. Later, Sir Alinor was discovered dead in his tent; the man Sir William had jousted against was unknown. Arthur returned mostly intact after the conclusion of the tournament.


	5. Chapter 5

A few nights later, Morgana discovered the true source of her nightmares. She woke up mid-nightmare, her emotions still running high. There was a lit candle at her window that hadn’t been there before. As she stared at it, the flame rose higher, burning her curtains. She screamed in horror and her windows blew outward.

Guards soon knocked on her door, followed by Gwen. She went to Arthur, who notified Uther. One of the guards brought Gaius, who was followed by Merlin. Merlin, of course, was tasked with cleaning while the others talked about what might have happened. He listened while Gaius explained Morgana's magic away and shook his head. Arthur cleared Gwen of any responsibility, blaming an errant sorcerer. Morgana stayed silent, watching everyone with frightened eyes.

Merlin’s heart went out to the Princess; he knew exactly what had happened because he'd experienced similar firsthand. She must have woken from the nightmare scared, and that caused the flame to spread. Her horror of that must have triggered the window's explosion.

Gaius took Morgana back to the physician’s chambers. They sat at one of the tables and gently began questioning her. Neither knew that Merlin stood outside, listening.

“What I don't understand, Morgana is how the fire started in the first place,” Gaius asked.

“It happened so quickly. It was terrifying,” she replied.

“It's all right. You're safe now.”

“I know I can trust you, Gaius.”

“Yes, of course you can.”

 _Would he believe her?_ “It was me. I set the room alight. I started the fire.”

“I don't understand. Did you knock a candle over?” Merlin was irritated at how Gaius played dumb.

“No, that's not what happened. I did it just by looking at it, the flames suddenly leapt higher.”

“I could've been a gust of wind.”

 _Come on Gaius!_ “It wasn't. It was me. It was _magic_.”

“My child . . .”

“ _I'm not a child!_ ”

Gaius sighed. “Last night was an accident. It had nothing to do with you. How could it have? I am going to draw you up a fresh remedy that will make you feel better, I promise.”

“No . . .”

“You _must_ trust me.”

At this point, Merlin wanted to burst in there and correct Gaius. But he refrained; that wouldn’t calm Morgana any. He heard her move toward the door and exit the room. “Morgana,” he said and patted her arm. She gave him a weak smile and walked toward her chambers. _That_ was _not_ good.

He walked into Gaius’s chambers and made sure the door was closed behind him. He tried to broach the subject gently, but Gaius remained stubborn. So he gently laid into his mentor, asking him why he didn’t tell her the truth—she deserved to know. He decided to tell her himself, because he knew what she was going through. But Gaius was adamant that he keep his secret.

Later in the day, Merlin decided to pick flowers for her; he knew they cheered her. It wasn’t like he could do anything else for her. He found that Morgana was resting, but Gwen answered the door with a knowing smile. She’d make sure Morgana knew who they were from.

xxxXxxx

That night Morgana sent Gwen home. She didn’t want to keep her maid awake and she didn’t want her to witness any magic she might accidentally perform. Sure enough, she woke from a nightmare and the fear she felt caused her to accidently shatter the vase at her bedside that held Merlin’s flowers.

She freaked out, got out of bed and ran all the way to Gaius’s chambers. But the only one there was Merlin; he was still dressed but in the middle of snuffing out candles. “Is Gaius here?” she asked, her eyes roaming around the room.

“Uh, no he's not. He should be back soon though,” he replied. She was clearly distressed and probably had experienced another nightmare.

“I need to speak to him. Where is he?”

 _Why?_ “He's gone to see the King. What's wrong? You can trust me, Morgana. You know you can.”

“I'm scared, Merlin. I don't understand anything anymore. I need to know what's happening. _Please_.”

“Gaius will be back soon. He'll be able to help you.”

“He won't. I don't need any more remedies. They won't do any good. It's _magic_ , Merlin.”

“Are you sure?” _Oh Morgana_.

“I'm your friend; you know I wouldn't make this up.”

“Of course.” _What should I do?_

“Then you believe me? You think it's magic too. Please, Merlin, I just need to hear someone say it so I don't have to keep feeling like I'm imagining it.”

Merlin stood there, indecisive. _Should I tell her, despite what Gaius and the dragon warned? If I tell her, I could help her, but she may also turn me in. If I don’t tell her . . . she’d be left alone and afraid, maybe angry. And then she’d be down the path of her dark destiny._ No _, that can’t happen._ “Morgana.”

She’d been examining her feet but looked up at this. “Yes Merlin?”

“Come here.” He took her hand and led her to the bench to sit. “I’m going to tell you something . . . but you can’t tell anyone else. _Please_.”

“What is it Merlin? I said I would trust you; please give me the same courtesy.” She took his other hand.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat and freed his hands. He cupped one in front of him. “ _Blostma_ ,” he whispered. His eyes flashed gold and a small red rose appeared.

“ _Merlin_.” She was caught totally off guard. Of all the things she expected him to say . . . “You have _magic_?”

“Yes. And so do you. _That’s_ what you’ve been experiencing.”

She threw her arms around him. “Oh thank you Merlin. It’s such a relief to know.” Then she froze. “But what about my father? If he finds out, we’ll die.” She pulled back and tears flooded her eyes.

He took her hands again. “I won’t let that happen. I will help you learn how to control your magic and how to use it for good. _That_ is its true purpose.”

She squeezed his hands. “Thank you Merlin, I owe you so much.” She took a deep breath. “How about I begin repaying you with this?” She leaned forward to press their lips together.

He was shocked for a moment, but quickly closed his eyes and pressed back against her lips. Her arms wound around his neck and his wrapped around her waist. He sighed into the kiss, which opened his mouth and deepened it.

She pulled herself closer and slid her hands into his hair. There it was again, that pull she felt around him. And now she knew what caused it—his _magic_. Their magic was attracted to each other, but that wasn’t the only thing that pulled them together. It was his kindness, selflessness, generosity, and yes, the _love_ that he felt for her. Her heart started beating faster as she recognized that yes, _of course_ she loved him.

Morgana opened her mouth to meet his. She dared flick her tongue into his and he moaned. He tightened his hold on her briefly before running his hands up her back, over her arms and into her hair. His tongue began to play with hers for a moment before he froze, remembering something.

Merlin broke from the heady bliss he felt and stared at her, wide-eyed. “You . . . what?”

“Oh, very coherent Merlin,” she teased. “I’ve just realized that I love you too.”

His mouth fell open, “You-you love me? Oh, Morgana!” He brought her mouth back to his for a brief but strong kiss. “But . . .”

“But nothing, love. We’ll be together—you’ve already promised to help me with my magic.”

“Yes, yes I did. And I mean to keep that promise. But now, even more, no one can know about us.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“And how gorgeous they are too.” He leaned down for another quick kiss.

“Come to my chambers tomorrow night?”

“Of course. But the King’s rounding up innocent people with ties to magic. We’ll have to free them. Any ideas?”

“Talk my father out of it?”

“Riiiight.” He frowned. “Hey, did you tell him you saw a sorcerer in your room?”

“No, I didn’t tell him much at all. Arthur assumed that and told him.”

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Go to the market in the morning. When you come back, tell Uther you saw someone and it jogged your memory of the sorcerer. Then have him take you to the dungeon and clear everyone there.”

“He may still decide to execute them.”

“Then we fall back on my usual plan.”

“What’s that?”

“Put all the guards to sleep and let them escape.”

“You’ve done that before?”

“Oh yes.” He leaned in for another kiss. “Think it’ll work?”

“If I can get Arthur on my side, yes.”

“Brilliant! Have I told you that I love you?”

“Not for several days.”

“I love you.” He scooted closer and initiated another kiss. They spent the next few minutes testing out what their lips could do to each other before the door began to open. They jumped apart and tried to look innocent.

Gaius came through the door. “Morgana. Merlin.” He looked between them but could see nothing amiss. “Up late, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yes,” Morgana answered. “I couldn’t sleep so I came down for the sleeping draught I forgot earlier. Merlin was awake and we got talking . . .”

Gaius have them _The Eyebrow_. “I see. Well,” he walked over to the table and picked up a bottle near her. “Here it is. I trust you’re sufficiently tired now?”

“Yes,” she replied, forcing her eyes away from Merlin’s. She stood. “Thank you Gaius, Merlin.” and with a nod and a “Goodnight,” she was out the door.

Gaius looked at his ward. “You were just _talking_?”

“Honestly. That’s it,” Merlin replied.

The physician’s eyebrow rose higher. “It had better be. Now, let’s go to bed.”

“Agreed.” Merlin went back to his room and quickly passed out on his bed, dreaming of a beautiful, pale girl with ebony hair and jade eyes.

xxxXxxx

Arthur teased Merlin about the flowers. He wanted to know where _his_ flowers were since he’d heard Morgana had gotten some. In fact, he thought it was a token of affection for her. _Little did he know_ . . . Merlin did all he could to convince Arthur otherwise, but he didn’t think Arthur had believed him.

The Prince was soon summoned away to oversee the rounding up of suspects. Once they were all imprisoned, Morgana came to him and Uther with the story she and Merlin had concocted. They led her down to the cells where she looked at every single suspect. As planned, she cleared every single person, which made Uther grit his teeth in frustration. He still wanted to interrogate them, but Arthur couldn’t see the point to it. Sorcerers tended to operate on their own, and if none of them were the one Morgana remembered, then it would be fairly useless.

The King got his way though, and Sir Leon and Arthur interrogated the suspects. But even _he_ was forced to admit it had been a waste of time—all the suspects had been cleared by bedtime.

Merlin visited Morgana with a bottle in one hand and his spellbook hidden in his jacket. After she closed and locked the door, Morgana took his hand and led him to sit on her bed. He put the bottle on her bedside table then laid that hand on her face. “And how are you tonight?” he asked.

“Better, now that you’re here,” she replied. She puckered her lips and leaned forward. He chuckled briefly and gave her a quick kiss.

“First I’m going to teach you a technique we can use to converse with even when others are around. _Can you hear me?_ ” He projected the last sentence into her mind.

She gasped. “How did you do that?”

“ _We don't always need words to speak to one another_. Many of those with magic can speak mind-to-mind. The Greeks would call it _telepathy_.”

“Teach me!”

“Of course. Now think of what you want to say, then use your magic to focus and project it to me.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and thought, “ _Like this?_ ”

“ _Yes, that’s perfect! I knew you could do it!_ ”

“Thank you!” She threw her arms around him.

“Okay okay,” he laughed. “Now if you can remember that, you’ll find it easy to control your magic. Focus on what you want to have happen and say the words.”

“I don’t know the words.”

“That’s why _I’m_ here, Love.” He helped her up by their linked hands and led her over to the fireplace; no fire had been lit. He held out his hand toward it and said, “ _Bærne_.” The laid-out wood caught fire.

“You make that look so easy.”

“For me, it is. But I’ve been doing magic since I was a baby. _Ácwence_.” The fire went out immediately.

“Since you were a . . . wow.”

“Don’t worry; you’ll get there. I have a feeling you’ll be a quick study. I’ll have you practice that spell, but is there anything else you want to know first?”

“Why can I see the future in my dreams?”

“People who can to do this are few and far between; they’re called seers. You have a gift.”

“Is it magic?”

“Of a sort. But it’ll be a long time before you're able to understand it fully, let alone use it at will. It isn't something to be afraid of.”

“It is if you have Uther as your father. If he found out, he'd have me killed, daughter or no.”

“He won't.”

“But if he did . . .”

“I won't let that happen. You shouldn't be scared of Uther. You should pity him.”

“ _Pity?_ Why?”

“Because he's a broken man, consumed by fear. His hatred of magic has driven goodness from his heart.”

“I've always been taught that magic is evil, that it corrupts your soul.”

“ _Uther_ told you that. Just because he decrees it, doesn't make it so. In time you’ll learn that magic isn't a dark art that must be shrouded in secrecy. It can be a force for good, as I said last night.”

“Thank you Merlin.” She took his hand again.

“Okay, are you ready to try lighting the fire?” He took a couple minutes to teach her correct pronunciation; once she had it down, he explained the process of spellcasting. “Close your eyes and try to _feel_ your magic. Mine feels like a warm sort of hum flowing through my body. You should be able to reach it quite easily; you’re almost as powerful as I am.”

She opened her eyes. “How powerful _are_ you?”

“Uh, I’ll tell you later, that’s not important right now.” He paused to clear his head. “Okay, clear your mind again. Do you feel it?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Open your eyes; do you still feel it?” She nodded. “Good, now grab onto it and hold it as you say the word.”

She held out her hand to the wood and said, “ _Bærne_.” Nothing happened. “Okay, now what?”

“Clear your mind and grip the magic tighter. Focus on what you want it to do and say the word.”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and reopened them. “ _Bærne_.” This time she felt a bit of something leave her and watched the fire start. “I did it!” She threw her arms around him, pulled him closer and planted a firm kiss on his lips.

He let himself enjoy that for a minute or so then gently broke away. “Yes, you did it. I knew you could.” He looked at the clock on her mantle. “Oh yikes. I’d better leave. I’ve been here a long time.”

“Aw, do you have to?”

“Yeah, Arthur and Gaius are already suspicious. But I’ll do this first.” He leaned forward and gave her a sweet, lingering kiss. “Goodnight my love.”

“Goodnight Merlin.”

Merlin left and walked down the staircase near her room. He didn’t see Arthur leaning against the underside of the stairs. “This has to stop,” the Prince said. Merlin turned around quickly, startled. “The King would have your head if he found out, and there's no point denying it.”

“Denying what?”

“Your affections for the Lady Morgana.”

Merlin chuckled. “Right.”

“Take a bit of advice from someone who knows about women.”

 _Uh huh_. “Well, if such a person existed, I would.”

“Stick to girls who are more . . . how can I put it? On _your_ level.”

“Thanks.” _I think_.

“She can't be your friend, let alone anything else.”

 _If only you knew_. “Yeah, I know.”

“You can't hide anything from me, Merlin.”

Merlin chuckled again. “I wouldn't dream of it.”

xxxXxxx

A few days later, Morgana felt the need for a pilgrimage to her father’s grave. Gwen always went with her, but she asked Arthur and Merlin to accompany them as well. Arthur was worth at least two knights and Merlin would be the secret magical protection.

They set off early in the morning, the royals riding in front of the servants. After a few leagues, Merlin and Arthur traded places. It was difficult to watch Gwen and Arthur trying to make eyes at each other in their former configuration. Everyone was much happier this way, at least until they stopped—a few yells from the woods changed _that_ quickly.

Arthur whipped out his sword and pushed the ladies behind him. Merlin took position behind them, his magic at the ready. A few badly-aimed arrows flew at them, followed by several men with swords. Arthur began fighting them while Morgana ran to her horse and pulled out two swords, previously hidden, from her saddle. She tossed one to Gwen and they began assisting the Prince.

Merlin kept a rotating eye on his three friends, using his magic subtly here and there. They’d defeated a few when several more came running from the woods. The warlock could see that the three fighters were tiring; then Arthur slipped and was wounded in the leg. He was forced down at swordpoint. The ladies were quickly disarmed and forced to kneel. Out of options, Merlin decided to hang it all. He flung out his arms and yelled, “ _Astrice!_ ”

The bandits still standing flew backwards. “Run!” Merlin yelled at the other three. He helped the ladies up, but Arthur just stared. Gwen stared too, but she at least responded. “Arthur, go,” he tried again, holding out a hand to his master, who ignored it.

“Come on Arthur,” Morgana yanked at him and he finally got up. “Merlin, Gwen, let’s go!”

The bandits had started to stir; one of them had a hold of his crossbow and fired it into Merlin’s shoulder. He went down with a cry; Gwen ran over to help him, but he said, “Go!”

Gwen turned to Arthur. “Help him, please.”

Arthur gave Merlin a look of disgust. “I’m not helping a sorcerer.” He turned his back and began hobbling away as fast as he could.

Morgana began to protest, but Merlin said softly, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just go.”

Tears began silently running down her face, but she turned her back, took Gwen’s hand and ran to catch up with Arthur.

“Did you know he was a sorcerer?” Gwen asked quietly.

“Yes,” Morgana replied, fighting the urge to turn and run back to her love.

xxxXxxx

Merlin sighed in relief, which cause him to grimace in pain. The bandits circled him, chuckling evilly. “Jarl will get a pretty price for you, sorcerer,” one sneered. He pulled a pair of manacles from his belt and fastened them around Merlin’s wrists, which had been wrenched behind his back. “Don’t bother to use that magic of yours—these will block its use. And if you do try it, it will rebound on you. I’ve been told it’s quite painful.”

“Where are you taking me? Who’s Jarl?” he asked.

“You’ll find out,” a voice said behind him right before he felt pain at the back of his skull.

When Merlin woke, he found himself on his back at the bottom of a large, circular room. A hand reached down to pull him up. Merlin found he still wore the manacles, but the chain between them had been removed. His wound was bandaged too. The offered hand belonged to a familiar face. _Lancelot!_ “Merlin, old friend, you look terrible.”

Despite the situation, Merlin grinned. “Likewise.” He looked around and found himself surrounded by several rough-looking men. “What are you doing here?”

“That is a long story.”

“Where exactly are we?”

“The bell of an old castle. Belongs to a fellow named Jarl.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Charming man—slave trader.”

Merlin gasped. “We're going to be sold as slaves?”

Another voice interrupted Lancelot’s answer. “Right, you filthy vermin. Which one of you's ready to face my champion in the arena?” There was silence. “No volunteers? Well, I shall have to choose one of you toe rags myself, then. Let me see. How about _you_?” He pointed right at Merlin.

Merlin looked around, but no one else responded. “Me?”

“Death or glory, boy. You should be honored,” the man replied.

Lancelot spoke up. “Who is this so-called champion, Jarl? Can he crush nothing but weaklings like this?” Merlin looked at him, shocked, and Lancelot whispered, “Follow my lead.” Merlin nodded.

“You think you could offer a better contest?” Jarl challenged.

“I guarantee it.”

“Lancelot, no,” Merlin protested.

“Very well. But if you lose, I'll feed your little friend to the crows piece by stinking piece.” Merlin swallowed hard and Lancelot grimaced. Jarl gave orders to someone they couldn’t see, and in a few minutes, Lancelot and Merlin were led out by several guards.


	6. Chapter 6

 Morgana and Gwen tried repeatedly to get Arthur to talk, but the Prince refused. His shoulders were set and rigid despite his obvious limp. After walking for a league or so, they came across two of their horses. Arthur mounted one and the ladies shared the other.

After they reached Camelot, Arthur tossed his reins to the nearest guard and stalked off toward Gaius’s chambers. Morgana and Gwen exchanged a glance as soon as they were on the ground; the poor physician was going to get an earful of angry Prince. They didn’t envy Gaius.

Gwen and Morgana went to the latter’s chambers and cleaned up as best they could. They’d been summoned to the King to share their story. They assumed that wouldn’t be until Arthur had been patched up, so Morgana indulged in a bath. By the time she was dressed again, a page had knocked on the door to summon them.

They made their way to the throne room as quickly as they could. Arthur was already there, fuming, his leg bandaged. But he stood tall and tense in front of his father, ready to give his version of events.

Uther questioned Gwen first, then Morgana. They told how the bandits had come upon them and fought until they’d tired. They also explained Arthur’s wounding and their temporary capture. They’d both agreed to not mention Merlin’s magic. Gwen had been shocked at first, but Morgana had explained everything he’d done for them. She’d agreed to keep his secret.

They explained Merlin’s part as mouthing off and being stabbed in the shoulder to silence them. Gaius, in the background, raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing. Arthur’s face remained neutral.

The King thanked them and asked Arthur if he had anything to add. The Prince shared his version of events briefly. And when he reached Merlin’s part, he glossed right over the magic. Morgana felt Gwen tense next to her, but when she glanced over, the maid remained impassive. _If Arthur’s so angry, why didn’t he mention the magic?_ The Princess was confused, but didn’t let it show.

Uther asked his son a few questions then dismissed them. Arthur turned and walked out of the room quickly. With a look at Gwen, Morgana and her maid followed the Prince to his chambers.

He left the door open as he entered; leaving it to Gwen to close after the ladies had entered. Arthur turned as soon as he heard it shut. “So, I assume you’re here to talk about what I _didn’t_ say?” He motioned to his table and pulled out a chair for his sister, who sat in it. Gwen stood behind her.

“You’re perceptive today,” Morgana commented.

“Not by choice,” he muttered.

“So why didn’t you tell your father about Merlin’s magic?”

“I had a nice, long talk with Gaius about it. It seems he’s been using it this entire time to protect his destiny— _me_.”

“And _that_ convinced you?”

“Not right away. It took him a long time to calm me down to where I would listen. And once I did, I was shocked into silence.”

“It _is_ pretty shocking news. Who would have believed it?”

Arthur gave her a shrewd look. “Wait a minute—did _you_ know about this before today?”

“Yes.”

“ _Morgana!_ ”

“Don’t give me that! I only found out by accident.” She hoped that little lie wouldn’t come back to haunt her.

“Fine. But while I’m not going to kill him on sight, I’m still angry at him.”

“That’s your prerogative, of course.”

“Gee, thanks. Anything else you’d care to tell me?”

“No. But I hope you’ll forgive him in time. He’s one in a million, and you’re lucky to have him on your side.”

“I probably will. He’s a likeable idiot, after all.”

“Glad to hear it. Now all we have to do is find him.”

xxxXxxx

Merlin and Lancelot were led to a large room with a cage in the middle. Several thuggish men milled around, waiting for the fight to get started. A large, muscular man stood near the cage’s door. His sword was long, wide and sharp; much more so than the nicked model Lancelot was handed.

Jarl sat at a table in prime view of the cage. “Gentlemen, the rules are simple. One man lives and one man dies. If you cannot or will not finish off your opponent, I'll kill you both.”

The big man cackled at his opponent; Merlin shuddered. Both fighters entered the cage and the door was shut and locked behind them. “Let battle commence!” Jarl called.

Lancelot and the big guy began swinging at each other. Lance moved quicker, but the giant’s strength was nearly overpowering. Lancelot went for a hit and run tactic, until the big guy finally got a hit in. The former knight parried, but the shock from the hit’s strength nearly made his arm go numb. Lance almost dropped his sword and was distracted long enough that the big man swung again. He danced out of the way and called his friend’s name, “Merlin!”

The warlock had been watching anxiously. “I’m here.”

“Could you do your . . . thing?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“The manacles block it.”

“Oh. _Great_.”

“Yep.” At that moment, Lancelot had scrounged up enough strength to bring his sword hilt down at the base of the giant’s skull effectively. “Yes!” Merlin crowed.

“Finish him,” Jarl ordered.

“I will not,” Lancelot replied, tossing down his sword.

“You’re a man of honor, eh?” Jarl glared at the former knight then abruptly started laughing. “Oh that’s rich. You’re so amusing I think I’ll let you _and_ your friend live. He’ll net me a good price anyway.” He gestured at a couple of his guards. “Take them back to holding. This one here will be good for amusement; I think I’ll keep him around.”

The guards manhandled them back to the bell tower. There were now fewer men in the room than before— _had some been taken to be sold_? Merlin shook his head and addressed his friend. “Let’s get you some rest; it sounds like you’ll be doing more of that.”

“Thank you, Merlin.” They walked to the wall on the far side of the room. He helped Lancelot settle against it, sitting up. Most of the men nearby moved away. No one wanted anything to do with the man who’d beaten the champion.

A man with white-blond hair and an ageless face looked over at them curiously. He had manacles much like Merlin’s and wore Druids’ robes. _A sorcerer then_. He sat against the wall near Lancelot. “Hello Emrys and Sir Lancelot, the bravest and most noble of them all.”

“I'm not sure that's true,” Lancelot replied.

Merlin moved closer to the druid to speak in a whisper. “Do I know you?”

“No. But I met Prince Arthur when he returned the boy Mordred to me.”

“Oh.”

“My name is Iseldir, Emrys, and I’m here to help you.”

“But you have magic—did you let yourself be captured on the off-chance you’d meet me?”

“Yes and no. I had a vision. I’m to help you strengthen your magic enough so you can break these bonds of ours. If there is anyone who can do it, it is you.”

“I’m flattered, but I’ll probably be sold before I have the chance.”

“Jarl will have a hard time finding a buyer for you. I’m still here, after all.” Iseldir looked beyond Merlin to Lancelot. “Lancelot, you will teach Emrys how to wield a sword effectively.” Lancelot nodded.

Merlin looked appalled. “I hate to tell you, but I’ve been training with the Prince for well over a year, and he hasn’t been able to get through to me.”

“That’s because you weren’t using your magic to learn. Lancelot and I will show you how. Then you’ll finally be ready to face what’s coming in the next few months.”

Merlin looked totally confused, but said, “All right, if you say so.”

“I’ve seen it, Emrys.”

“Ah, while we’re in public like this, would you please call me _Merlin_?”

“As you wish Em— _Merlin_.”

xxxXxxx

Arthur waited a couple days then started taking seemingly random “hunting” trips. They were, more accurately, “hunting for _Merlin_ ” trips. Hiding what he was really doing was necessary; there was no way the King would let him mount an official search for a _servant_. Sometimes Morgana and Gwen went with him and his knights. They tried to track him from the place they’d been ambushed, but recent rain had washed most traces away. Arthur returned to Camelot frustrated, but he was determined to keep up the charade.

One night, after one of these trips, Morgana was summoned to dinner with Uther. He usually only asked this of her when he had some sort of dictate to impose on her. And unfortunately, she wasn’t wrong this time.

The King opened with a few bits of small talk, but gave it up when Morgana barely responded. He finally cut to the chase. “Morgana, I’ve been involved in discussions for a political alliance with King Odin.”

“That seems advantageous, my lord.”

“It certainly will be. It is partly in reparation for the attempt on Arthur’s life. But once they are complete, his life will no longer be in danger.”

“Very good news, my lord.” Morgana kept waiting for the axe to fall.

And fall it did. “The treaty will be cemented by your marriage to Odin’s son, Eldin.” Morgana was speechless, so Uther plowed on. “You will journey to their kingdom next week, accompanied by Arthur, a few of the knights and your maid. You will be married there in six weeks.”

Morgana’s mouth had fallen open, but the word “married” jolted her out of her shock. “My lord! How can I be married to someone I don’t love and have never met?!”

“Morgana, please calm down. You are of age; the entire Court knows this. It has been discussed in Council and confirmed. You _will_ travel to Odin’s kingdom and marry Prince Eldin.” His usual fatherly tone took on a hard edge.

“What do a handful of old men know about love? I will never forgive you for this!” With that, she stood and raced from the dining hall straight to her chambers, tears streaming down her face.

Gwen was tidying the room when Morgana flew in. She’d startled her enough that she dropped the chair she’d been repositioning. “My lady! Whatever is the matter?”

Morgana flung herself on the bed face down. Her hysterical sobs were muffled but echoed throughout the room. Gwen ran to the door to shut it, then to the bed to sit next to the Princess. “Morgana. Morgana? What’s upset you so?”

The Princess spoke brokenly through her tears. “Th-the King. Is. Forcing me . . . to marry.”

Gwen was almost too shocked to speak. “Oh my goodness! It’s so sudden.”

“B-but it’s not . . . he’s been corresponding with . . . with Odin. It’s _his_ son . . . that I’m being forced t-to m-m-marry.” The tears overwhelmed her again.

Gwen took a long moment to think. It was understandable for Morgana to be upset at being forced to marry. But her usual reaction to something like this was to get angry. This time Morgana seemed to be grieving for something. _Could it be . . ?_

“Morgana, why are you crying? Usually you get _angry_ when the King does this to you.”

“I _am_ angry,” she said with a sob.

Gwen shook her head. “It’s more than that, isn’t it?”

Morgana nodded and began to sit up. Tears still ran down her face, but she’d composed herself enough to speak. “It is. I’m in love with someone else.”

“Who is it? Do I know him? Were . . .” Gwen broke off when Morgana’s face scrunched up again. “I’m sorry; you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s all right.” She took a few deep breaths. “It’s Merlin.” Gwen inhaled sharply. “And we bonded together over my . . . _our_ . . . magic.” She watched Gwen’s mouth drop in shock again.

“You and Merlin . . . and you both have magic?”

“Please don’t tell anyone Gwen! If you want to stop being my friend, or,” she swallowed, “my maid, I will let you go.”

“You’re joking! I mean, no, I won’t tell and I’m staying with you.” She took Morgana’s hand.

“Thank you Gwen. I’d never do anything to hurt you or anyone else.”

“I know, Morgana.” There was a knock on the door, and before Gwen could open it, Arthur stepped into the room.

“Morgana, I’ve just come from fa—oh no, he already told you, didn’t he?” Arthur said. The Princess nodded slowly. “I’m so sorry. I tried to argue against it, but he was adamant. At least Guinevere and I will be there with you.” Gwen nodded firmly.

Gwen pulled a chair over for the Prince to sit in. He thanked her and flopped down into it. “Are you going to be okay?” He took a closer look at her. “You’re not angry, you’re . . . sad?”

Gwen started. “She’ll tell you when . . .”

“It’s okay, Gwen,” Morgana interrupted. “I _am_ angry, but mostly I’m in pain. I’m . . . I’m in love with someone else. And no, I’m not telling you whom.”

“Whoa. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s still pretty new. And it just wasn’t your business.” Her tears were dried up by now, and anger was quickly replacing it.

“All right Morgana, don’t get angry _now_.” He took a deep breath. “Look, I’m going to do everything that I can for you, keep you protected from unwanted attention, whatever. But you’re going to have to do this.”

“I know.” She was quiet now. “Thank you, Arthur.”

“Now, what can we do to keep you distracted from this awful mess? Oh, I know.” He looked over at Gwen. “Guinevere, would you bring a couple bottles of wine from the kitchen and three glasses?”

“ _Three_ glasses, sire?”

“You’re joining us, of course. The three of us have to stick together, you know.”

Gwen flew off on her errand. She had no idea how the night was going to end, but she’d enjoy it while she could.

xxxXxxx

Merlin and Iseldir began their work after the rest of the room had gone to sleep. First, Iseldir quizzed Merlin on what he already knew—the contents of his magic book. The druid corrected him here and there. It was late when they finished that, but he wanted Merlin to try breaking through the manacles.

“I was told it would cause great pain,” Merlin replied.

“But you are _Emrys_ ; it may not.”

“All right. What’s the spell?”

“Ábirteaþ þá handcopsas.” He said it slowly so no magic occurred.

“Here goes nothing. _Ábirteaþ þá handcopsas_.” He felt his magic rise as it usually did, but then it seemed to hit a barrier and rebound upon him. It felt like his blood was on fire and he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, just to keep from screaming.

Merlin lay there catching his breath while Iseldir spoke. “Alas—I was hoping it wouldn’t do that to you. How bad is the pain?”

Merlin nodded. “Feels like my blood is on fire,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Hmm, we’d better stop for the night. You’ll need to recuperate before you try that again.”

“Try . . . _again_? Are you _serious_?!”

“Yes, Emrys. Now get some rest. We’re going to be here for a while, so you might as well get it while you can.”

They lay down close to Lancelot and went to sleep. In the morning, guards brought them a watery gruel, the same they’d had for “dinner” the previous night. Everyone ate anyway, and a few more men were taken away.

Lancelot began putting Merlin through some strengthening exercises, since they didn’t have swords. This included hand-to-hand combat. Iseldir assured them Merlin would be able to _create_ swords fairly soon, despite the manacles. Merlin shook his head at this, but a spark of hope kindled itself within him.

Iseldir also taught Merlin meditation exercises; specifically, how to better get in touch with his magic. These didn’t hurt at all, since he was directing it inward not outward. Gradually he progressed to where he could call his magic up quicker and in greater amounts, which would be useful in emergencies. The druid seemed pleased with his progress and made sure to correct gently. Iseldir was a much better teacher than Arthur—an endless amount of patience was a plus.

Days passed like this: waking, breakfast, “sword” practice, meditation. Sometimes Lancelot would be dragged away to fight various “champions” for Jarl’s amusement. He always came back tired, but as time passed, he adjusted to the level of exercise. And one day, he came back with a sword. He’d been able to hide it in his trousers while everyone was looking at his latest downed opponent.

After that, Merlin was able to use the sword to actually train at night, when everyone was asleep. Iseldir had taught him the words and method of learning by magic, so he was able to try this right away. “ _Ætýnaþ mín sýna gewítan, mín éaran híernan and mín fehþ þurhleornian_.” The spell opened his senses to better absorb what Lancelot had to teach him. For this, Merlin was grateful. He was now able to pick up the basics of swordplay at a relatively quick rate, so with time, he got better.

Before either Lancelot or Merlin knew, a week had passed. They could only tell days from nights from the windows, high on the wall, and when meals were brought. Merlin could perform _very_ simple spells and his instinctual magic without a lot of pain. But he still had a ways to go before he could break them out of this horrible place.

xxxXxxx

Arthur squeezed in a couple more “hunts” for Merlin before he had to leave with Morgana to Odin's kingdom. But every time he thought he had a lead, it went nowhere. And now, with a day left until departure, Merlin would have to stay lost until Morgana was married.

Gwen and a flock of other maids helped Morgana pack all her possessions for her move. Most everything would have to go, since she'd be living in Odin's kingdom for the rest of her life. _At least I'll get to be a Queen_ was a pitiful consolation. Thinking about Merlin just _hurt_ ; not only was he _lost_ , but she would be betraying him in the _worst_ way possible.

Morgana cried herself to sleep every night. That, when combined with her dreams, which she now knew were prophetic, made for not enough sleep. So her moods swung wildly enough that only Gwen and Arthur could stand to be around her for long. Her emptiness consumed her.

Her dreams consisted of various confusing images. Sometimes she'd see Merlin sword fighting, of all things. She'd also see a familiar-looking man with him, sometimes fighting him. Other times she'd see an unfamiliar man sitting in a chair or on a horse, looking sad or displeased with something. Sometimes Arthur would be with him, sometimes King Odin would be. So it must be Eldin, her future husband. And he didn't look any happier about the impending marriage than she was.

The night before she left, all her things were packed into a wagon. Then she attended a huge feast Uther held. He'd follow them later, to attend the actual wedding. Morgana had no desire to attend the feast, to see all the ladies and ladies-in-waiting simper over her one moment and gossip behind her back the next. But Gwen and Arthur virtually dragged her there.

As she looked out over the crowd, she couldn't help noticing the absence of one who should be there. Arthur hadn't had the heart to replace Merlin; he just made do with whoever the seneschal sent up every day. _Merlin, Merlin, Merlin_. Wherever she looked she saw others doing what he should be doing, and she felt the sting of guilt even more keenly.

When Uther asked why she seemed so sad, she half-lied, as usual. She told him she'd miss him. He gave her a fond look and embraced her, giving her his full confidence. She felt less than encouraged.

That night she hardly slept. And when she did, she dreamed of Merlin, shackled and in great pain. Another kindly-looking man was with him, but nothing he said or did helped her love. So she woke in the morning more despondent than ever.

Morgana and Gwen rode in a carriage, Arthur and his knights rode horses in front of and behind them. The carriage was more comfortable than riding horses, but Morgana couldn’t enjoy it. Here she was, off to marry a stranger when the man she really wanted was out there somewhere, in unknown condition. She barely managed to hold her tears in and finally, blessedly, she fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

After a day and a half of travel, the party made it to Odin’s capital city. His castle was not as picturesque as Camelot’s, everyone thought privately. They were met at the gate by a group of ceremonial guards and led to the castle. Odin and his son waited on the steps in their finest attire. One could not tell what they were thinking by looking at them, but Morgana thought they looked almost bored.

“Greetings and welcome to my fair city,” Odin greeted. His voice oozed fake pleasantry. He and Eldin walked down the steps to the party from Camelot and stood close to the carriage. “Prince Arthur, you are most welcome here.”

“Thank you your highness,” Arthur said formally. He’d met the king before and his younger son more recently, but he didn’t particularly like him. That tended to happen when one has an assassin sent after him. He had no idea about Eldin though; the man was a mystery. He dismounted and walked over to the carriage. “May I present Princess Morgana of Camelot?” A knight opened the door and Morgana walked down the steps, Gwen following.

Morgana presented her hand to the king. “I am most honored to meet you, your highnesses.” She curtsied just before Odin took her hand to kiss it.

“Ah, I see that tales of your beauty have not been exaggerated.” He kissed the back of her hand and waited for Eldin to take it. “Eldin,” he prompted.

Prince Eldin shook his head a bit and finally took her hand. “I quite agree with my father; you are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. Accompany me inside?” He offered his arm.

“But of course,” Morgana replied. She took his arm and fell into step with him. Arthur walked at her other side and Gwen behind. The castle’s servants began unloading the wagon while the royals went inside.

The décor inside the castle was similar to Camelot’s, though the corridors weren’t quite as well lit. The group traveled up a staircase to a long, wide corridor. “Your chambers are just down here, next to mine,” Eldin said. “Prince Arthur, yours are on the other side of hers. Princess, your maid will stay in the anteroom off your chambers.”

Everyone nodded and kept walking until they reached a door. “Here we are Princess,” Odin said. He opened the door. Inside was a set of rooms about the same size of her old chambers in Camelot. The layout was different, but the furniture seemed to be of the same quality. “I’m sure you’d like to freshen up from your long journey. We’ve prepared a feast tonight in celebration of your arrival; someone will be sent when all is in readiness.”

“If you need anything, please send your maid. You only need ask, and whatever you wish will be yours,” Eldin added. Morgana summoned a smile. “Now, Arthur, let me show you your chambers.”

Arthur smiled encouragingly at her before he and the other two men left the room, closing the door behind them. Gwen went to help her lady, but Morgana was walking quickly toward the bed. She fell facedown upon it and began sobbing the cry of the heartbroken.

xxxXxxx

“I’m going to try it again,” Merlin told Iseldir that same night. He wanted to try to break the manacles again. The pain of other, simpler spells was tolerable.

“I’m not sure that’s wise, Merlin,” Iseldir replied. “It’s still riskier than the others you’ve managed.”

“I know. But it’s got to hurt less this time, right?”

“Maybe. But wait until everyone’s asleep.”

“Of course.”

After a couple of hours, the only ones left awake were Merlin, Lancelot and Iseldir. “All right Emrys, give it a try.”

Merlin took a few deep breaths and focused his magic. “ _Ábirteaþ þá handcopsas_.” Pain erupted throughout his body, but it was indeed less than the first time he’d tried. “It’s almost tolerable,” he gritted out.”

“You’re lying,” Lancelot pointed out.

“Yeah, I am,” Merlin replied. “But not by much. The pain’s less than it was last week.”

“Good, Emrys. We’ve made definite progress then. Why don’t you practice your sword fighting again?”

“Lancelot?” Merlin looked up at his friend who nodded.

“I’m ready to go when you are.”

Merlin and Lancelot trained for a couple hours before they were too tired to continue. Thanks to the new spell, the basics had come to Merlin much quicker than Arthur would have been able to teach him. Arthur had always run out of patience long before Merlin grasped a concept.

Another week of fighting, practicing and meditating passed. Merlin could feel how strong his magic was becoming. One night he tried a new spell. “ _Gehíwe þæt andweorc into þæt sweord_.” The dirt beneath his hand transformed into an exact copy of the sword Lancelot had stolen. After Merlin worked through the minor pain, he grinned and nearly yelled, “Yes!”

“Good work, Emrys,” Iseldir complimented. “You’ve come a long way in these two weeks. And now you can properly spar with Lancelot.”

“That’s right. No more going easy on you,” Lancelot chimed in.

“You’ve been going easy on me?”

“Only a little. But you’re not close to me yet.” Lancelot grinned at him. “Well, pick up your sword and let’s go.”

Merlin grumbled a little but picked up the sword and held it at the ready position he’d been taught. It looked like Lancelot was going to get even more serious than he was before. _I’m in trouble_ , he thought, right before Lancelot lot came at him with a quiet battle cry.

xxxXxxx

Morgana made it through that first feast, and through the others that happened because of every other small event. Arthur always sat at her side, making things tolerable for her.

During that first week, she found out what she’d have to learn as a Princess in this new kingdom. The etiquette didn’t differ much, but many laws were unusual to her. She had to sit through tutoring sessions; sometimes Arthur was there and sometimes Eldin was there. Once or twice even Odin showed up to observe. Morgana didn’t particularly like Odin; he seemed to view her as a tasty piece of meat. Thank goodness Eldin was different.

Arthur, Morgana and Eldin came to spend a fair amount of time together. The two princes seemed to get along all right, especially after Arthur apologized for his brother’s death. “The fool was asking for it by forcing you to duel him. He had no idea what he was getting himself into,” Eldin declared. By now Arthur and Eldin had sparred a few times and he’d witnessed firsthand why his brother had never had a chance.

Morgana was beginning to like Eldin as a friend as well. She was fairly certain she’d never love him romantically; her heart still belonged to Merlin. But Eldin knew this. He’d also confessed that he loved another, and expressed his regret at their forced betrothal. In other circumstances, they may have eventually fallen in love, so they agreed to make the marriage more like a partnership. Morgana would still have certain duties, but once she’d fulfilled them, he’d agree to look the other way if she wanted to “entertain” other men.

That same night, while Arthur and Morgana were sharing wine in Arthur’s chambers, Gwen went to see about a bath for Morgana. On the way, she passed by Odin’s council room. Loud voices were coming from behind a not-quite-closed door. That caught her attention, so she paused near the opening to listen. “—you must!” Odin was saying. “If we don’t go through at least a part of it, we’ll never get the revenge we seek.”

“The revenge _you_ seek, Father. _I_ don’t have a problem with Arthur. He’s a little on the arrogant side, sure, but—”

“I really don’t care _how_ you feel about him Eldin. He _must_ suffer for killing Sorin.”

“Father, Sorin was an attention-seeking prat. He was a fool to try to best Arthur. Have you _seen_ the man fight?”

“ _Don’t_ speak of your brother in that manner!”

“Fine. But I don’t want to go through with the marriage. I don’t love Morgana and she doesn’t love me.”

“You should know that love has little to do with marriage. You _will_ keep up the pretense. We’ve got to lull them into a false sense of security so when the time comes, they’ll never see it coming.”

“Father, please—“

“No Eldin, you listen and listen well. You _will_ go through with the wedding, or I’ll make sure a certain girl spends her life in the dungeon. I can even _end_ that life if you continue to oppose me.”

“Yes, Father.” Eldin sounded regretful and resigned. “But is the second part of the plan really necessary? I don’t really want to get involved in—”

“ _Yes_ , you _do_. It will make my revenge sweeter. We break Arthur first, then Camelot.”

At that moment, Gwen heard steps coming down the adjacent corridor. She turned away to look and made to hurry back the way she’d come, determined to tell Arthur what she’d learned. But a strong hand wrapped around her arm from behind and pulled her backwards into the council room.

Whoever it was let her go and slammed the door shut behind them. Gwen whirled around to vent her anger, but paused when she saw King Odin standing there. “What did you hear?” he demanded.

“N-nothing, my lord,” she replied, looking down at the floor.

“Liar!” he yelled and stalked closer. He wrenched her arm behind her back and she cried out in pain.

“Father!” Eldin exclaimed, standing up and striding to where the man was standing.

“No Eldin, stay out of this.”

“I will _not_! This is Princess Morgana’s maid, and I would see her—”

“ _Silence!_ ” Eldin closed his mouth abruptly. “Now, maid, what did you hear?”

“H-how the wedding is a sham and you plan to- _ow!_ -harm Arthur.” Odin had twisted her arm further just then.

“So, you know. Well, now I’ll have to do something about that.” He paused for a few moments. Gwen stared pleadingly at Eldin, who stared back remorsefully. “I can’t allow you to tell your master and mistress, can I?”

“Father—”

Odin talked right over his son. “If you don’t keep your mouth shut, I’ll make sure your precious Princess doesn’t make it to her wedding night.” Both Gwen and Eldin paled, but neither said anything. “Do we understand each other?”

“Y-yes my lord.”

“And Eldin—if you breathe a word of our plan to our visitors, you _know_ what I’ll do.” Eldin’s face crumpled. “Now, maid, be on your way. You don’t want to keep your mistress waiting, do you?” Gwen fled the room; Prince Eldin was right behind her.

The next day both Arthur and Morgana noticed Gwen rubbing her arm where Odin had twisted it. He’d left a deep bruise that would take several days to heal. She _really_ wanted to tell both of them about the threat to their lives, but that was the very thing keeping her silent. She cried in frustration when she was alone at night. Her one consolation was she could be with Arthur more often; Camelot was far to the north.

xxxXxxx

Three more weeks passed. Merlin had been imprisoned with Lancelot and Iseldir for five weeks. His swordsmanship nearly rivaled Lancelot’s; he’d never thought it possible. He’d managed to disarm the former knight several times now. Lancelot was proud of his progress and pronounced the warlock good enough to best most men in Albion.

His command of his magic had grown immensely as well. He was able to work through the pain in all but the most complicated of spells. And Iseldir had taught him many of those, as well as several simpler ones. It was now time to again try the spell to break the manacles at their usual late-night hour.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Lancelot asked Merlin.

“Of course. I’ve got to get out of here—who knows what trouble Arthur has gotten into while I’ve been gone? Morgana, Gaius and Gwen must be frantic by now.”

Lancelot flinched at Gwen’s name, but Merlin ignored it. By now he knew the former knight still had feelings for her, and Merlin didn’t have the heart to tell him that hers had changed. “You have a good point.”

“Emrys, prepare yourself first,” Iseldir reminded him.

Merlin nodded and closed his eyes in a brief yet thorough meditation. When he opened his eyes, he said, “I’m ready.” Iseldir nodded. Merlin took a deep breath and said, “ _Ábirteaþ þá handcopsas_.” There was a sharp crack and a ringing as the metal on Merlin’s wrists cracked open. “ _Yes!_ ”

“How was the pain?” Iseldir asked.

“Almost nonexistent,” the warlock crowed. He then repeated the spell over Iseldir’s manacles then helped him take them off. He took off his own and tossed both sets to the ground. “Let’s get out of here, but first, let me see the swords, Lancelot.” Lancelot held out both swords while Merlin held out his hand and said, “ _Áscirpaþ_.” The edges of both swords were smoothed over and sharpened.

“Nice,” Lancelot noted. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“Agreed,” Iseldir said.

They walked over to the door, which opened with a word. Lancelot looked out and held up two fingers for the number of guards. He opened the door quietly and he and Merlin took them out with hilts to their heads. Iseldir closed the door behind them; they wanted to hide their departure for as long as they could. The way out was mostly clear after that, only two more guards got in their way, but Merlin and Iseldir put them to sleep with magic.

Once outside, they ran as quickly as they could into the forest surrounding the keep. Once they’d gotten about a league in, they stopped to catch their breath. “I’ve got to get back to Camelot,” Merlin gasped.

“I wish I could go with you,” Lancelot replied.

“Why don’t you come to my camp with me?” Iseldir said. “I have some things to give you, Emrys.” Merlin looked ready to protest, so he added, “It is on the way to Camelot. We are quite far into Essetir.”

“I had no idea,” Merlin said. “Lancelot?”

“Not a clue.”

“All right Iseldir, we’ll go with you.”

They walked until the sun began to rise then bedded down in a hidden cave they had discovered. Merlin woke after a few hours; Iseldir was sitting near the fire they’d built before falling asleep. “Didn’t you sleep? Merlin asked him.

“I had enough,” he replied.

“I don’t suppose you want to tell me what I’m going to face, do you?”

“A foe or two you haven’t faced before, and tests of your strength and trust. Be wary, Emrys.”

“Always.”

Lancelot woke just then. “All right?” he asked the others, who nodded. He sat up and asked, “How far to your camp, Iseldir?”

“We should reach it well before nightfall,” he replied.

“What are we waiting for?” Merlin asked.

They quickly ate the remains of the “dinner” they’d scrounged up before sleeping, and started walking again. There was no sign of pursuit, though they’d been missing quite a few hours now. Iseldir suggested their absence may not have been noticed, since men went missing from their prison quite often and the only one who kept track was Jarl.

As the Druid had predicted, they reached his camp, in a cave system, before nightfall. Many Druids greeted him and “Emrys” as they passed, and watched Lancelot curiously. Soon they reached a tent where several older druids were gathered. They hailed Iseldir and welcomed the three, especially Emrys.

Iseldir introduced his two companions, making sure to mention Merlin’s name preference. The three travelers were offered food and baths; the only washing they’d been able to do was occasional splashes of water. They thanked the elders and were taken away to clean up. Each was given a tent to dress in and rest for the night, but the elders requested their presence before they could sleep.

Merlin was given brown clothes and a Druid robe. They also gave him a large square of fabric, which Iseldir said he’d explain later. Lancelot was given another new set of clothes, boots and a new chainmail shirt. The men thanked them for their generosity. After that, the elders left for their own tents, leaving the three former prisoners to strategize.

“I want to leave for Camelot in the morning,” Merlin said. He expected opposition to this.

Lancelot opened his mouth to say something, but Iseldir spoke over him. “I agree. You must get to Prince Arthur as soon as possible. His life is in danger.”

“O- _kay_? Well that settles it. Now, what is this extra bit of cloth for?

“Ah yes. You must return to Camelot in disguise. Fold the cloth so it covers the top of your face. Make holes for your eyes, of course. You will have to sneak into the Citadel, find out the information you need, then work from there.”

Merlin was now folding the cloth to do what Iseldir had suggested. Once he had it just right, he whispered a couple of words that cut holes over his eyes. He blinked and smiled cheekily at his two companions. “How do I look?”

“Like an incompetent bandit,” Lancelot replied.

“Thanks,” Merlin fake-pouted. “So, Iseldir, how long do I have to go around like this?”

“Until you complete your mission.”

“Great. Well, at least it’s not a dress.” Iseldir smiled at that while Lancelot chuckled.

“Now you, Lancelot. If you like, you may stay here with us for a while.”

“That is very kind, but won’t Merlin need my help?”

“Emrys has been well-prepared for his quest. Stay a while here, rest from yours for a season. Much will be required of you later, but now you can rest.”

“All right.” Lancelot looked at Merlin, as if he needed permission; Merlin nodded even though he didn’t need to give it.

“Now, you both should get some sleep. There are long days ahead for all of us.”

xxxXxxx

Merlin woke to the sound of movement outside his tent. Iseldir opened the flap and invited him out to breakfast. After breakfast was over, Iseldir led him back to the elders’ tent. There, they gave him a satchel with enough food for two days and a saddle. _They were giving him a horse?_ He thanked them profusely, and after a few parting words of wisdom, Iseldir led him back outside.

The horse they’d given him was older, but he’d be able to reach Camelot within a couple hours of nightfall. After goodbyes to his new and old friends, he led the horse out, mounted it, and began riding.

He only stopped for water and other needs (sore bottom among other things). When it got dark, he muttered “ _Leoht_ ,” and a ball appeared to light the way. When he reached the woods east of Camelot, he stopped and put on his disguise. He tied his horse to a tree, near a nice patch of grass, and left to walk into his home city.

It wasn’t hard to sneak into Camelot the same way he usually snuck out—by distracting the guards. He bent his steps to Gaius’s chambers, knowing his mentor would know what was happening better than the kitchen maids did.

It wasn’t that late, so he let himself into the physician’s chambers. Gaius startled; he jumped up and turned, grabbing one of his larger mortars. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Merlin closed the door behind him. He pushed down his hood and took off the pseudo-mask. “Gaius! It’s me!”

“Merlin? Oh Merlin, you’re alive! It’s so good to see you!” He put down the mortar and ran over to hug his ward.

“Ah—ugh, Gaius, I can’t breathe!” he gasped.

Gaius immediately let go and pulled Merlin down to sit on the bench. “Can I get you anything? Food? Water?”

“Information.”

“Information? Merlin, where have you been?!”

“I assume you heard from Arthur about what happened on the way to Gorlois’s grave?”

“Yes, Arthur told me everything. Merlin, he—”

“Good. I was kidnapped by slave traders and held captive. I couldn’t escape because they put magic-blocking manacles on me. But Lancelot was there, and a Druid elder named Iseldir. He taught me _so_ much about controlling and focusing my magic. I learned how to swordfight with the aid of magic; Lancelot taught me. I’m actually quite good now. Gradually I was able to magic the manacles off and we escaped. And here I am. Iseldir told me I have a mission to complete, but he didn’t elaborate much. He said Arthur’s life was in danger.”

“Arthur’s life is in danger? But he’s in Odin’s kingdom with Morgana and Gwen. Uther made a treaty with Odin, and they’re cementing it by marrying Morgana and his son.”

“What?! No, they can’t—”

“Merlin, what—?”

“Never mind that. I have to go save Arthur and Morgana.” He stood and walked back to his room.

“Merlin, you can’t stop the wedding, not without serious repercussions.”

“I know that,” he called. He was under his bed, digging things out of his hiding space. He took the Sidhe staff out. “But I have to at least save Arthur.”

“You should stay here overnight, get some rest.”

“Gaius, I’ll rest when everything’s okay again. I have to go.” He picked up some rope and fashioned a harness that would strap the staff to his back. “Don’t worry; I’ll be fine. I’m a lot stronger than I was before, and I now have _two_ ways to defend myself.” He gave Gaius a long hug and walked toward the door.

“I’ll have your favorite meal waiting for when you get home.”

Merlin turned. “I’m counting on it.” He smiled then turned and left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Morgana was growing more anxious every day. The wedding was only ten days away, which was stress enough, but she hadn’t been outside Odin’s castle for _days_. Today she was determined to get out by herself—she’d go on a nice, long ride and enjoy a bit of freedom  before she was chained down to look pretty and bear heirs for the rest of her life.

She announced her intent to Arthur and Gwen at breakfast. Both objected, but she’d already marshaled her arguments and used them to great effect. Soon she was riding out on her horse, Buttercup, heading down a lane in the woods, the wind in her hair.

Several leagues down the road, she came upon three men standing in the middle of it. They claimed to be lost travelers looking for one of their companions. “There's no one for miles,” she told them.

The tall, strong-looking man approached her while the average-looking man with dirty blond hair and beard said, “Then there will be no one to hear you scream.” The strong man grabbed her by the back of the neck and squeezed until blackness came over her.

While she was out, the dirty blond ripped the uniform of a soldier of Nemeth and attached it to Buttercup’s saddle. He whacked the horse’s flank and with an angry whinny, she galloped back towards Odin’s capital city.

When Morgana woke, she found herself tied up and lying in a horse-pulled cart. The three men were on horses surrounding her on all other sides. It was night and she was stiff, sore and nursing a headache.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” she demanded.

The dirty-blond replied, “We are . . . entrepreneurs of a sort. Your presence has been requested elsewhere and we are merely transporting you to that place.”

Morgana could see what was happening here. “I demand you release me at once!”

“Not going to happen, your highness,” the man said. He glared at his non-giant companion. “And don't you say anything, _Gwaine_.”

The man called Gwaine exchanged glances with the big man. “And me, Alvarr?” the big man asked.

“I understood you were the strong and _silent_ type when I hired you, _Percy_. Stay that way.”

“He knows I hate that nickname,” _Percy_ muttered.

“Stay on his good side, Percival. He's an angry little man as it is,” Gwaine whispered.

Nobody spoke for a while after that. Morgana just lay there, cramped and fuming. Why were they kidnapping her _really_? And why were they headed for Nemeth? They were a small, peaceful country, an ally of Camelot's. What was this Alvarr's plan?

After a while, she noticed that Gwaine kept looking backwards. Alvarr threw him a dirty look and said, “Why are you doing that?”

“Making sure no one’s following us.”

“Well quit that—it bothers me.” Gwaine shrugged and apologized. “Out of curiosity, _why_ do you keep looking back?”

“Oh, I happened to turn around just now and noticed there is something following us.”

Alvarr, Morgana and Percival looked back. There was indeed a light in the distance, which really wasn't needed since the moon was almost full. So _why_? “Let's pick up the pace,” Alvarr ordered. He moved forward to goad the cart-horse into a slow gallop—his eyes flashed gold. Apparently he was using _magic_ to control the horse.

The men matched the cart-horse's pace. Soon the light was far in the distance, but they kept up the gallop for a while. After several leagues, the finally slowed. “There are some hidden caves nearby. We should get a little rest, at least,” Gwaine suggested.

“Good idea,” Percival replied.

“Agreed. Lead us there,” Alvarr said.

After they left the road, Alvarr used his magic to erase their tracks as they went. There was no way their pursuer could follow them. When they reached the caves, Gwaine and Percival took care of the fire, food and bedrolls. Alvarr used a concealment spell to hide the cave opening, just in case, and they all went to sleep for the night. Even Morgana, who’d futilely tried to stay awake to plan an escape.

xxxXxxx

In the morning, they found tracks all around the cave. Gwaine and Percival scouted for several minutes, but found no one nearby. So they packed up the horses, mounted and left. They headed back to the road that led to Nemeth.

After a couple hours, Alvarr caught Gwaine looking back again. “Is it the same person? Can you tell?” he asked.

“It looks like it,” Gwaine replied. “Long, brown robe, face hidden. Yeah, that’s him. Or her. Can’t tell.”

“ _Great_. Now what?” Alvarr moaned. He thought for a moment. “Gwaine, I want you to stay right here and dispatch him. Make sure he dies—I don’t want any more interruptions.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Am I sure I want him dead? Let me think— _yes!_ Kill him and there’ll be a bonus for you when we’re done with this.”

“All right all right, I get it. I’ll take care of him.” Gwaine dismounted and led his horse into the woods to tether it to a tree.

“Find us in Nemeth. You know where we’ll be.”

“Good luck Gwaine,” Percival told him.

“Thanks.”

The two mounted men led the cart horse away from the scene. Soon they were out of sight and Gwaine was hidden behind a tree. It didn’t take long for the man in brown to reach his position. Gwaine jumped out of the trees, which spooked the other man’s horse enough that it reared. “Whoa,” said the man in brown, patting the animal and soothing it with a few more words. “Who are you?”

“I’m the man who’s going to stop you from following my comrades,” Gwaine stated. He drew his sword and flourished it threateningly.

“Oh, you are, are you?” The man in brown dismounted; he was taller than Gwaine. “I might have something to say about that.” He drew his sword from the saddle sheath.

“No man can best me—I’ve been studying my craft for _years_.”

“You can think that if you want, but you haven’t faced me yet.”

Gwaine twirled his sword in his hand. “Are you all talk or are we going to fight sometime today?”

“Let’s do it.” The man pulled his hood down. He wore a mask that hid most of his face.

“You seem a decent fellow; I hate to kill you.”

“ _You_ seem a decent fellow; I hate to die.”

They faced each other; Gwaine made the first move. The man evaded him competently enough, so he tried a more complicated offensive move, which the man still evaded. _He’s definitely studied with someone very good_. Gwaine pulled out all the stops and went after the strange man with his full strength. The man adjusted and parried his attacks with equal strength.

“I see that you’re not just all talk,” Gwaine said. He soon had to draw on his full range of attacks, using all the tricks he’d perfected over the years.

“I like to think I can hold my own,” the man replied. Suddenly he performed a particularly complicated parry and transitioned to the offensive.

Gwaine fought his panic. The man in brown was quickly beginning to outclass him. _How was this possible?_ He glanced at the man’s eyes for a brief moment and saw them flash gold. _A sorcerer—that’s how he’s doing it_. Gwaine mustered his strength to attempt a withdrawal. “It appears you can. For once I’ve found someone who’s better than I am.”

“Glad I could oblige.”

Gwaine decided to pull one last trick—a disarming technique he’d picked up somewhere in Northumbria. Only the man’s eyes flashed gold again and it was Gwaine who’d found himself kneeling and without his sword. He held up his hands. “Please—finish me quickly.”

“I’d sooner ruin a fine tapestry as kill you. But since I can’t have you following me . . .” he hit the back of Gwaine’s head with the pommel of his sword. Gwaine passed out and sunk to the ground. “For what it’s worth; I think you could give Arthur a run for his money.”

The man in brown sheathed his sword and mounted his horse. He quickly spurred it into a gallop and directed it in the same direction he’d been traveling before the swordsman had interrupted him.

xxxXxxx

Back in Odin’s castle, Morgana’s absence had been noticed. After midday the previous day, Gwen took it to Arthur, who took it to Eldin. By then Morgana’s horse had shown up, so Eldin took the matter to his father, even though both of them already knew what was going on. While Eldin was actually worried, Odin wasn’t. He insisted he’d hired the right man for the job and that _he’d_ been instructed to keep the Princess unharmed. The next step of the plan was to search for her, of course, if she hadn’t returned by nightfall.

Morgana didn’t, of course, returned by nightfall, so Eldin enlisted Arthur’s help. Several of Odin’s knights and one Count Drummond, an expert tracker, came along. They were to leave at daybreak, hoping that the kidnappers hadn’t gotten too far ahead.

They quickly found her horse’s hoof prints and followed them to several sets of footprints. Drummond quickly ascertained that they belonged to three men. They looked for and found other hoof prints to follow—a set of four headed in the direction of Nemeth. With them was a cart track, probably loaded. They all remounted and took off toward Nemeth.

xxxXxxx

Alvarr, Percival and Morgana were almost to the Nemethian border. Morgana had been gagged for one too many disparaging comments. Percival had taken to looking back, and now that they were at the top of a hill, they could see pretty far back on the road. In the distance he saw a brown dot moving quickly toward them. “Gwaine was wearing black, wasn’t he?” he asked Alvarr.

“Yes . . . why?” Alvarr queried.

“Someone wearing brown is on the road behind us.”

Alvarr took a look. “Impossible!” he spat. “No one _ever_ defeats Gwaine! If he survived he’s _not_ getting paid.”

Percival exchanged glances with Morgana. This job was looking less and less advantageous by the hour. “What are we going to do?”

“’What are we going to do?’ I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. _You’re_ going to stay here and fight him hand-to-hand.”

“I can fight pretty well with a sword.”

“But I didn’t hire you to fight with a sword, did I? Your hand-to-hand skills are legendary though. Fight him that way so I know he’s gone for good. Besides, he obviously defeated our expert swordsman.”

“As you say, Alvarr.” The sorcerer left with Morgana.

Percival dismounted and tethered his horse to a nearby tree. The area here was more rocky than woodsy, which meant he had extra weapons just lying around. He was concerned though—the only people who’d ever beaten Gwaine had done so with magic. If this man in brown had magic, he’d probably have to surprise him and kill him on his first attack. Otherwise, who knew what magic he’d use? He hid behind a boulder and picked up a smaller rock to chuck at the man’s head.

After more minutes than Percival could count, the man in brown rode up. He dismounted to look at the series of prints and glanced around. He led his horse to the opposite side of the road from Percival. The man saw Percival’s horse and began walking toward it. He passed Percival’s position, so Percival quietly stood and threw the rock at the man’s head.

The man ducked out of the way at the last possible second and whipped around. “Who? What?” he said.

“You don’t need to know the former, and the latter is, to kill you,” Percival replied.

“Well, that certainly puts a damper on our relationship.”

Percival examined this man, who’d pushed down his hood. He was tall, but not as tall as him and thin, but wiry. He’d have no chance against Percival. “Are you a sorcerer?”

“What if I am?”

“I’d like to give you a fair shot at walking away with your life. But if you have magic, that’s hardly fair for me.”

“You’re huge—how’s that fair for _me_?”

Percival ignored that. “We’re going to fight hand-to-hand. You’re not big, but you’re wiry, so you have a chance. Let’s make a gentleman’s agreement—I won’t kill you right away and you won’t use magic on me.”

“How do you know I won’t cheat?”

“Did you let Gwaine live?”

“Yes. He’s like an artist with that sword of his. I couldn’t kill someone like that.”

“I trust you.”

“Okay then.” The man took off his druid-like robe and tossed it as far away as he could.

Percival began stretching his arms, legs and torso muscles. The man in brown copied his movements, showing the extent of his muscles. With the robe off, he could see that the man was a bit more muscular than he’d originally thought. _Maybe it’ll be a fairer contest that way_. Percival finished stretching and fell into his stance. The man in brown cracked his neck and settled into a similar stance. “Go,” Percival said.

The man ran right at Percival and wrapped his arms around his waist. He tried to move him to one side or the other, but Percival didn’t budge. Percival simply picked him up by his arms and chucked him a few feet. The man landed hard but rolled and sprung right up. He went for Percival’s neck, but found his arms yanked away. He was thrown over Percival’s head. It took him a little longer to get up this time, but when he did, he jumped up on Percival’s back and held on with his hands around Percival’s neck. Percival tried to reach around and pull him off, but it was too awkward. He then backed up into a large boulder and smashed the man’s head against it. The man flinched but still didn’t let go.

It was then Percival realized what the man had been doing—he’d been slowly squeezing Percival’s neck. Now Percival felt almost no air coming down his windpipe. He gasped and banged the man’s head against the boulder again, but it was too late. The lack of air had cut off his strength and he was falling to his knees. With his last bit, he said, “Looks like . . . you beat . . . me too.” Blackness took over.

The man in brown checked for his pulse, which he found. “I don’t envy you the headache you’ll have when you wake, but thank you for the fighting chance. I hope we meet again under better circumstances,” the man told the unconscious giant before mounting his horse and riding off after the remaining two people.

xxxXxxx

After a few hours of fast riding, Eldin and Arthur’s group reached the scene of an obvious sword fight. The tracks were spread all over the road, but Count Drummond was able to follow it move by move and explained it to the rest of the group. “It was a mighty duel, ranging all over this place.”

He concluded that the winner had followed the horses and cart toward Nemeth while the loser had taken his horse off into the woods, probably headed back the way he’d originally come. After discussing the situation for a few moments, they decided to let the loser go and follow the winner. He, like them, was following Morgana’s kidnappers toward Nemeth.

xxxXxxx

Alvarr had forced the horses into a slow gallop. The cart wouldn’t be able to handle much stress; he didn’t care if Morgana was banged up though. After a long while, he looked back and saw the man in brown far off, but not too far off. Alvarr had crossed into Nemeth about an hour before, so now he could stop wherever he liked. He found an old, abandoned tomb not too far from the road and directed the horses over to it. He had a plan to get rid of the man in brown himself. _After all, if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself_.

The sorcerer tied the horses to a tree and unharnessed the one from the cart. He picked up Morgana and carried her inside the tomb, laying her on the one in the largest room. He was going to take this man in brown down with magic. He was guessing the man had some, at least, since no one could defeat Gwaine or Percival without it. But Alvarr’s skills were well-developed; there were few sorcerers who could best him. He would trounce this man in brown and leave his persistent carcass for wild animals to devour. The plan made him smile viciously.

Alvarr only had to wait about twenty minutes before the man in brown stepped into the large room. “Hello there, who might you be?” Alvarr asked.

“That is none of your concern,” the man answered, his voice deep.

“Oh, I think it is. See, you’re trying to take what I’ve rightfully stolen, and I can’t have that.”

“The Princess is not some piece of chattel to be traded or stolen.”

The man sounded almost . . . protective of Morgana. “No, she’s worth a lot more than that, isn’t she?” The man grimaced. “If you want her, you’re going to have to duel me for her.” The man unsheathed his sword. “No, not with swords, with magic. You _do_ have magic, don’t you?”

“I might.”

“You bested my swordsman, which means you’re very shrewd. You also bested my giant, which means you’re strong. But defeating them isn’t easy; you probably had to use a little something extra, didn’t you?”

“You found me out—I’m a sorcerer. What of it?”

“We will duel with magic. The winner gets the Princess. Agreed?”

“I’ll defeat you and _take_ her away. You have _no_ idea who you’re dealing with.”

“And you’re going to tell me?”

“I will now. The information will do you no good because only one of us is leaving this tomb; that will be _me_.”

“And who are you that you can make such a bold claim?”

“I am Emrys. Now make peace with your maker.”

Alvarr went pale, Morgana noticed. _Who was this Emrys that could strike such fear into Alvarr’s heart?_ “Emrys? _You?_ ” Alvarr stuttered.

“Indeed. Now, if you don’t mind, could we get this over with? I have to be somewhere rather soon.”

Alvarr’s eyes bugged out of his head for a moment, but he replied as calmly as he could. “Certainly.”

Then men took positions several yards from each other. The man in brown took of his cloak again and tossed it aside. “Don’t worry Morgana, we’ll be leaving soon.” _Something about the way he said her name seemed familiar_ . . .

“ _Oferswing!_ ” Alvarr yelled with no warning.

The man went flying toward the wall, but stopped himself with a flash of his eyes. Then he yelled, “ _Ástríce!_ ”

Alvarr went flying into the wall. He didn’t stop himself. “ _Gebindan_ ,” he muttered.

Ropes came from nowhere to restrain the man. He looked down at himself and said, “ _Forbærne. Intend lieg_.” Fire burned off the rope then shot toward Alvarr, who only just managed to avoid it.

Alvarr had pulled a knife from his robes. “ _Fleoge seax forþ_.”

The knife flew toward the man, who stopped it with, “ _Culter, ic þe healte_. _Fleoge_.” His last word sent the knife flying back to Alvarr, where it lodged in his left shoulder.

“Ahhh!” he screamed. “ _Atæse_ ,” he bit out.

The man’s right shoulder popped out of its socket. He yelled too, but raised his other hand, “ _Ahríes þæc_.” Part of the ceiling fell down on Alvarr, which stunned him for a few moments. The man in brown ran for Morgana. He waved his good hand over her, “ _Áscieraþ þá rápas_.” The ropes fell from Morgana’s wrists and ankles and she reached up to un-gag herself.

“Your shoulder—” she started.

“It’s fine,” the man said. He looked at her oddly for a moment before helping her up with his good hand. “We need to go before he wakes.”

As if on cue, Alvarr moaned. “All right,” Morgana said and let him tug her away.

Behind them, Alvarr started to say, “ _Swil_ —“

The man cut him off, yelling “ _Ic þe bebiede þæt þu abifest nu_.” The entire tomb began shaking. The ceiling _and_ walls began to collapse around them. “It’s time to leave,” he said as he pulled her from the room completely. Behind them they could hear Alvarr yelling before a loud _crunch_ silenced him.

Morgana flinched, but allowed herself to be yanked from the tomb to take cover in the woods several yards away. She watched the man flinch in pain as he said, “ _Þurhhæle dolgbenn_.” He rolled his shoulder back into place and moved it back and forth. “Ah.”

He stood then and helped her up again. They dusted themselves off and looked at each other. Morgana took this time to examine him closely. He was tall and appeared to have dark hair, what she could see of it. His mask hid his face and the color of his eyes seemed to change constantly. He was thin, but wiry, so he could be fairly strong. In short, aside from his skills, there was very little she could glean by looking at him. “Now what?” she asked.

“Come again?” he said.

“Now what do we do? What will _you_ do with me?”

“I, uh . . . we need to get you back to the safety of Odin’s castle. I understand you have a wedding coming up . . .”

 _Well that was awkward. What happened to the confident sorcerer?_ He seemed so uncertain of himself now. “Listen, Emrys. I have no desire to marry Prince Eldin. So if it’s all the same to you, could you just take me to Camelot?”

“Well, um . . . aren’t your friends back at Odin’s castle? Won’t they want to know how you are?”

She let out a longsuffering sigh. “I guess. My fiancé will be concerned too, I suppose.”

The half-smile that had been on his face fell. “Let’s get going then. No time like the present.” He walked to Alvarr’s horse and collected it and his, which was nearby.

She mounted Alvarr’s horse before he could help her. “All right then. _Hiya_!” She nudged her horse into a walk while he hurriedly mounted. And they were off.


	9. Chapter 9

A couple of hours after they’d discovered the swordfight’s evidence, Eldin and Arthur found evidence of another scuffle. They’d crested a hill overlooking Nemeth and discovered unusual prints in the dirt.

Count Drummond determined that this had been a hand-to-hand fight. The loser had been a really tall, strong man, and he’d gone in an off-road direction. The winner had continued down the road to Nemeth, whose border was only a couple leagues away. After a short discussion, they decided to keep following the winner and the one man who still had Morgana.

Shortly after they crossed the border into Nemeth, they found evidence that several horses had left the road, toward an old tomb. So they too left the road and headed toward the tomb.

Once they got closer, they saw a horse and cart just outside. They also noted that the tomb had partially collapsed. The entrance was impassable. Count Drummond dismounted to investigate what he could from the prints left outside. He concluded that three people had gone inside but only two had come out.

 _Please not Morgana_ , Arthur thought. When he looked at Eldin, he could tell the other Prince felt the same way. He may not love her, but he still cared. _Good man_.

After Drummond re-mounted his horse, they followed the direction he pointed out—the way the survivors had gone. That trail led off the road, back to Odin’s capital city. Eldin expressed his surprise at their course; this trail led to a forest called the Perilous Woods. Even Arthur had heard of the forest and its dangers. It was the fastest way back to Eldin’s home, but almost no one survived once they’d gone into the forest. Eldin told Arthur that the Perilous Woods lay at the bottom of a steep hill. It wouldn’t take them long to get there.

xxxXxxx

The man in brown and Morgana reached a steep hill overlooking the Perilous Woods. It was the quickest, but not safest, way back to Odin’s capital city. They’d dismounted to get a better look. “You’re _sure_ that’s the best way?” Morgana asked.

“Yes. I’m being followed by persons unknown and I don’t want you to get taken from me,” the man replied.

That was _it_ for Morgana. “Oh, so now I’m back to being a piece of property? I thought you were above that!”

“I am! I only meant to say they could be anyone and I want to keep you safe.”

“ _I_ can take care of _myself_!” she yelled, and gave him a shove.

He went tumbling down the hill, and she could hear him say, “ _As you wish_.”

Horror washed through her. “Oh my sweet Merlin—what have I _done_?!” She threw herself down the hill and for a couple minutes, they were both rolling down the hill, and _damn,_ it _hurt!_

Merlin finished rolling first, and lay at the bottom groaning from all of his new bruises. Morgana came to rest a few feet away; he crawled to her with his arms and lay on his side next to her. “Hello, my love,” he told her.

“Oh Merlin, I’m so sorry. And now the horses are way up there while we’re . . .”

He put a finger on her lips to silence her. “Shh. That’s no problem for me; watch.” While she watched, Merlin incanted a few words, “ _Hors, cume mec_ ,” and the horses started walking down the hill.

“How did you learn that?”

“I’ll tell you everything in time. Now we have to get away from here. See?” He pointed to the top of the hill where several mounted men watched them. They were too far away to be seen clearly.

“Works for me.”

By now the horses had reached the bottom of the hill. They took their horse’s reins and began leading them toward the Perilous Woods. Merlin began explaining his last few weeks to her. “The bandits put manacles on me that blocked my magic. Then they took me to a slave trader named Jarl and threw me into a room with several other men. When I woke from my “nap,” I discovered that Lancelot was there too.”

“The man who lied to become a knight?”

He shot her a look. “I prefer to think of him as the man who slew the griffon—with my help.” He grinned proudly.

“Of course.”

“Jarl forced Lancelot to fight for my life when he tried to defend me. He won and made him fight several more times for ‘entertainment.’ Anyway, they threw us back in the room and we were approached by a man who turned out to be a Druid elder.”

“And he had the manacles too?”

“You guessed it. He offered to teach me how to tap into my magic, since I’m Emrys I should have been able to get through the manacles after a time.”

“’Emrys’?”

“The greatest warlock to ever walk the earth, or something like that. I don’t really want to be the greatest _anything_ , but according to prophecy, I am.”

Morgana gave him a long, appraising look. “Imagine that. The most powerful sorcerer of all living in Camelot as a _servant_.”

“Don’t remind me. Anyway, he taught me how to gradually call my magic forward enough to break the manacles. He also taught me better focus and a lot more useful spells. I’d already memorized my magic book.”

“I want to see that, by the way.”

“If we ever make it back there, which I doubt. Arthur and Uther probably want me dead.”

“Actually, no. But I’ll tell you about that later. Finish _your_ story.”

“All right. So Iseldir taught me a spell to increase my rate of learning by using magic. That’s how I learned to swordfight so well so quickly. Lancelot taught me.”

“That’s how you beat Gwaine.”

“He was the swordfighter? He was darn good; I finally had to use magic to beat him.”

“That explains that. Did you have to use it on Percival too?”

“That big guy? No, just some wrestling skills I’d picked up from Lancelot. But that big guy was the strongest man I’ve ever seen.”

Just then they heard a shrill cry. They’d been so absorbed in their conversation they didn’t notice how far they’d gotten into the Perilous Woods. “Do you think that was one of the Mythics?” Morgana asked.

“Mythical magical creatures? Nah, I don’t think they exist.”

“But you’ve fought an afanc, a griffon and the questing beast.”

“Those were called up by other sorcerers. And even if they are running around in here, I have my magic and my sword. Nothing could possibly harm us.”

“What about the quicksand and acid geysers?”

“We’ll just keep our eyes open. Now, tell me what happened after you three left me to Jarl’s men.”

Amazingly, she noted, there was no resentment in his tone just then. He really did look at his imprisonment as a positive experience. “Well, Arthur stomped all the way back to Camelot and didn’t say a word to either of us. He went right to Gaius and was there for a very long time. Later, he told us he’d asked Gaius about you and Gaius had told him _everything_.”

“ _Everything_?” Merlin gulped.

“Yeah. And strangely enough, it made Arthur want to kill you _less_. Gwen and I were puzzled. _Relieved_ , but puzzled. And Arthur told us everything Gaius told him.” She gave him a look. “You held out on me.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly have that much time together before we left, did we?”

“True.”

Just then, there was a rustling nearby and something long fell toward them from the trees behind them. Merlin instinctively slowed time and pulled them out of the way. The long thing flew back toward the trees, but something came skittering out—a giant scorpion. “A serket, great,” Merlin moaned.

“You said Mythics didn’t exist!” Morgana shouted.

“Wellllll, I was wrong. I _can_ be wrong!” The serket’s tail swung at them again and Merlin met it with his sword. “There’s really only one way to kill these things. Do you remember how to make fire?” He forced the tail away and quickly jumped back. “ _Hleap on bæc_ ,” he shouted at the serket, which flew a few feet backwards.

“Yes!” She yelled as Merlin ran to stand by her. They lifted their hands at the same time and yelled, “ _Forbærne!_ ”

The serket shrieked loudly as it caught fire. It thrashed wildly and Merlin pulled Morgana back into the trees to avoid it. They watched it, both subconsciously wanting to make sure it died. When it was no more than a lump on the ground, Merlin walked out and poked it with the sword. The carcass crumbled and they both laughed. Now they had to recover the horses.

Fortunately the horses hadn’t gone far. Morgana moved out in front and they continued talking. “Where was I?” she asked him.

“Gaius told Arthur everything,” he replied.

“Right. And after that, Arthur miraculously _didn’t_ want to kill you. In fact, he was impressed with all you’ve done. Every now and then, we’d discuss what we knew. Especially on our trips to look for you.”

“He went looking for me?”

“Well, yeah. I asked him if he would, but he didn’t need much convincing. He missed you too.” She scrunched up her face. “But we had to disguise them as hunting trips, which really wasn’t that much of a lie now that I think about it.”

“I can hardly believe it! But did he tell Uther?”

“He didn’t tell anyone but me and Gwen. So you’re free to come back to Camelot anytime.” She stopped and beckoned him closer. Then she grabbed the collar of his robe and yanked, so his head came toward hers. She met his mouth with hers and slid her hands into his hair.

“Mmm,” he said, and pushed her backwards for a bit in his enthusiasm. A sudden hissing sound made them pause, and something shot from the ground at high speed.

Merlin yanked Morgana forward, but not before the acid geyser spurted onto Morgana’s skirt. She screamed while Merlin yelled a spell that caused her overskirt to rip from the dress. They shuddered as they watched the acid eat through the skirt in seconds.

After staring at the smoking remains of her skirt for a few moments, Morgana remembered something and looked down at herself. All there was between her inner skirt and her legs was her shift. She blushed; Merlin noticed. “If it makes you feel better, I'll try not to look,” he offered.

Morgana nodded and he took her hand. They walked side by side, leading the horses by their free hands. They'd made it several yards away when Morgana felt like speaking again. “Well, I suppose we only have to worry about quicksand now,” she commented.

“There’s more to your story, isn’t there?”

“Unfortunately. A few days after you disappeared, my father summoned me to dinner. He informed me that he was making a treaty with Odin and as part of the treaty, I was to be married to his son, Eldin.” She looked at his face; he looked thoughtful rather than angry.

“So . . . you _are_ engaged. I shouldn’t have . . .”

“Merlin, it’s all right. _I_ kissed _you_. We’re just engaged or I wouldn’t have done that. I don’t love him and he doesn’t love me. We agreed to just . . . work together if we had to go through with the marriage. I’d hoped that _you_ would come back—there are other ways to cement treaties.”

“Oh Morgana—” he was cut off by three things: his hand being yanked downward, a quiet yelp and a disturbed horse. The horse's head had been yanked down by its reins, which were touching the ground save for a hand sticking up from the ground . . . Oh, _quicksand_. “I've got you Morgana!” he yelled, not quite sure if he'd heard her.

“Okay boy, help me out here,” he said to the horse. He grabbed Morgana's wrist with one hand and lightly smacked the horse's flank with the other. “Yah! Pull!” He pulled back on the reins the same time as the horse did, slowly revealing more and more of Morgana. When her mouth cleared the ground, she spat mud out and took a huge breath.

After a moment, both she and Merlin let go of the reins. He grabbed her other wrist and pulled her all the way out. She lay on the ground by the now-obvious puddle of quicksand, gasping for air. Gradually her lungs stopped heaving and her breathing returned to normal.

“Thank you,” she said. He'd sat next to her, holding her hand until she was all right.

“Of course. I'd do _anything_ for you; my life's hardly worth living if you're not in it.”

She smiled weakly as he bent over her. “Merlin?”

“Hmm?”

“Let's never come here again.”

“I agree.”

By now it was close to nightfall. They moved a short distance from the quicksand, watching out for more hazards, and found a spot to camp for the night. They sat and Merlin was able to set the campfire without moving Morgana from his arms. He also murmured a few words of magic and explained to Morgana that he'd created a shield around them to keep out Mythics as they slept.

He'd caught a rabbit for dinner, which was quickly devoured as neither had eaten all day. They were exhausted after that, so they curled up back to back and fell into a deep sleep. Both were more content than they'd been in several weeks.

xxxXxxx

Arthur and Eldin's small group stopped for the night on the other side of the Perilous Woods. Eldin had explained that this spot was the only other place where the forest wasn't impenetrable.

Arthur stared into the forest while Eldin's knights set up camp. He'd heard of the three dangers and hoped Morgana had made it through without encountering any. And he hoped the person with her was a friend rather than a foe. He'd defeated the kidnappers, but who knew if he had his own sinister agenda?

Eldin soon called him back over to the campfire, where they ate and talked for a while before retiring for the night. One way or another, they'd be heading back to Odin's castle tomorrow.

xxxXxxx

Morgana woke in the morning feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time. She hadn't had a nightmare all night, probably due to Merlin's presence. Speaking of the warlock, he'd shifted in the night and he was spooned up to her back, his arm over her waist. She nearly gasped in surprise, but managed to hold it in; she was way too comfortable to wake him now.

Several minutes later, Merlin woke. It took him a few minutes to realize the position he'd shifted into and turned away, blushing. Morgana protested and immediately rolled so she curled up against his side. He made to move again but she clamped her arm over his chest. He relented and allowed her to keep that position a while longer.

Finally he started getting uncomfortable in more than one way. “Morgana? We need to get going soon.”

She groaned but rolled away to sit up. “Do we have to?”

“I believe you expressed a desire to leave the woods as soon as possible.” He smirked.

“All right. Any more rabbit?”

He heated the remaining rabbit with a spell and they ate before standing to brush themselves off. They looked each other and laughed. It would take more than a simple brushing off to make them look presentable. But Merlin saddled the horses and they walked the same way they had before—hand in hand and leading their horses.

After an hour or so, the trees began thinning. More sunlight filtered in; it was enough to see their way and easily avoid the geysers and quicksand. A few more minutes and they could see the edge of the forest and men wearing silver on the other side.

“Who do you think they are?” Morgana whispered as they came to a stop to stare out.

“Could be anyone, but we won’t know until we go out there,” Merlin replied.

“All right. Here goes nothing.” She took his hand again and they walked out together to find Eldin, Arthur and several of Odin’s knights.

The knights drew their swords, but Eldin hissed and the swords were re-sheathed. Arthur and Eldin ran toward the disheveled pair. “Morgana!” Eldin exclaimed.

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled. “It was you we’ve been following?”

“Yes,” the warlock replied.

“Who is this?” Eldin asked.

“This is my missing manservant, Merlin,” Arthur replied. “Merlin, this is Prince Eldin, King Odin’s son. Merlin’s been gone for over a month. Where the _hell_ have you been?”

“Captured by slave traders,” Merlin replied.

“But how . . .”

“Did I get out? I met Lancelot in there. He taught me how to swing a sword competently, and we used our skills to escape.”

“That’s how you beat the swordsman?”

“Yes.”

“And the giant?”

“Creative thinking. And I’m stronger than I look.”

“The last man?”

“He was a sorcerer. And, ah, his magic backfired on him.” He gave Arthur a look that indicated he knew more than he was telling; Arthur understood.

“I am glad to see you, even if you are the worst servant I’ve ever had.”

“Thanks, I think.”

Morgana watched their interchange with amusement. But Eldin watched in amazement and disbelief. _Is this how masters and servants relate in Camelot, or are these two different?_   He shook his head and looked at Merlin and Morgana in succession, finally noticing their joined hands. “Do you two need any medical attention?”

They looked at each other then back at Eldin. “No, I think we’re just fine.” She gave Eldin a look that seemed to say, _this is_ my _love_.

Eldin nodded and said, “All right. Then we should return to my home as soon as possible.” He looked at Merlin. “Thank you for rescuing Princess Morgana. I am in your debt.” He turned away to speak to his men. “Pack up. We’re returning home.”

A cheer went up around the camp, followed by knights packing their things and loading their horses. “Would you like anything to eat or drink?” he asked Merlin and Morgana.

“Water would be great,” Merlin said. They followed the Prince to his horse, where he removed an extra water skin from his saddle and handed it to Morgana. She drank and handed it to Merlin, who thanked the Prince.

Once they were finished, Eldin suggested they mount up. That being done, the whole group rode on toward Eldin’s home, no one talking very much because they were all too tired from being on the trail.

xxxXxxx

Odin was waiting for them when they rode up the next morning. Eldin introduced Merlin as the man who’d rescued Morgana rather than Arthur’s servant. Odin thanked Merlin and invited him, Arthur and Morgana to dine with him that evening. He wanted to thank the man properly for saving his future daughter-in-law.

Merlin was offered his own chambers across the hall from Arthur’s. Eldin was kind enough to ignore Merlin’s status, so the warlock accepted the offer gratefully. Before they parted, Arthur asked Merlin to visit him when he was done cleaning up. Merlin knew that this was when he’d have to give a full accounting of his actions, before and after his capture. But for now he was content to soak in the hot bath that had been prepared for him, and think.

He sensed something was off about Odin. The king had appeared to have accepted the offer of a treaty from Uther without putting up much of a fuss. _Why did a man so bent on killing Arthur suddenly want peace?_ He couldn’t wrap his brain around it.

But Prince Eldin seemed like a good man. If Morgana had to marry . . . no, she _couldn’t_ marry him, no matter how honorable he appeared. Besides, they didn’t love each other—maybe he loved someone else too? Perhaps he could figure out a way that everyone could be happy and still go through with the treaty? It was a long shot, but if it was one thing he’s learned since he’d been in Camelot it was that there was always another way.

After that, Merlin quickly washed and dressed himself. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for the scolding ahead and left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

He knocked on Arthur’s door and was bidden to enter. Arthur sat at the table there, eating lunch. He invited Merlin over and they both ate while talking about Arthur’s stay there. It had been relatively quiet until Morgana had been kidnapped, he said. Merlin listened to Arthur and absorbed everything he said.

At last they got around to the part Merlin had been dreading. But Arthur wasn’t angry or accusing. He merely asked Merlin to explain what he’d done since coming to Camelot. And so Merlin did, telling him everything that had happened from Mary Collins, to the griffon, to the Sidhe, the Questing Beast, and Sigan. The Prince was genuinely surprised at how many times Merlin had gotten away with using magic. And even though he seemed hesitant to talk about it, he didn’t shy away from it.

Finally they came to Merlin’s capture and Arthur said his piece. “I was so angry when I saw you use magic, I didn’t know what to do or say. But I knew I didn’t want to kill you, so I just walked away. I’m sorry I reacted like that; leaving you to who-knows-what fate, but it was walk away or do something I’d regret. So I walked.”

Merlin nodded. “I understand and I’m not angry. I’ve had almost six weeks to get over whatever hurt feelings I had, which weren’t many. I put you in that position, what did I expect to happen?”

“So they were slave traders. What did they do to you?”

“They put manacles on me that blocked my magic. I passed out from the pain of that and my injuries. While I was out, they carted me off to Jarl’s castle and tossed me in with their other captives. When I woke, I looked right up into Lancelot’s face. Jarl came in later, looking for someone to fight his champion. He decided that would be me until Lancelot stepped in. Jarl agreed to that but threatened to kill me if Lance lost. He didn’t lose, but every now and then took Lance away to fight different men.

“That first day, we met a Druid elder named Iseldir. He said he was the one who’d received Mordred from you.” Arthur remembered the man and nodded. “He told me he could help me learn how to hone my magic so I could eventually break through the manacles.”

“How come he didn’t do that himself?”

Merlin coughed. “Um, because he doesn’t have the amount of power I do.”

“You, powerful?”

“Yeah. I’m this legendary figure known as Emrys. I’m prophesied to aid the Once and Future King to unite Albion and restore magic to the land.”

Arthur blinked a few times before he spoke again. “Okay. I can accept that, I guess. But who’s this ‘Once and Future King’?”

“You.”

Arthur stared at Merlin for a long moment. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Not at all.”

“But ‘Albion’ is a mess. And restoring magic? I’ve only just gotten used to yours!”

“Well, that’s why I’m here. Don’t worry—we’ll figure it out together.”

“Okay. So, this Iseldir taught you how to hone your magic and Lancelot taught you how to swordfight.”

“Yep. I learned quicker and more efficiently by using magic. I think it worked well—by the end I could disarm Lancelot.”

Arthur’s mouth fell open. “You’re joking.”

“Nope. Maybe I’ll show you later . . . _after_ I finish my story?”

“All right.”

“So I got strong enough to help us escape. We went to Iseldir’s group of druids. They helped us and he explained I’d have to face a trial or two in the future, and sent me back to Camelot. After a brief chat with Gaius, I set off to come here, only I happened across Morgana and her kidnappers first. I think you know the rest, or can guess anyway.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve a pretty good idea.” Arthur cleared his throat. “So . . . did he tell you all about the treaty with Odin?”

“Only the basics. But that’s discouraging enough.”

“I noticed you and Morgana . . . you’re together?” Merlin nodded. “How long?”

“Since just before I was captured.”

“That explains why she was so upset when my father told her about all this. She felt like she was betraying you. But she obviously still loves you . . .”

“Yeah.” All the joy he’d felt while talking with Arthur evaporated.

“Merlin, I wish there was some way we could make this treaty without the marriage. Eldin- he’s a good man -has told us that he loves another as well. What a mess.”

“What about Odin? All this peacemaking seems a bit sudden for him.”

“I know. I can’t fathom why he’d want to. He was angry enough to send an assassin but _now_ he wants to be friends? I’ve been trying to figure him out the whole time with no luck.”

“So what do we do? Obviously I don’t want anyone else to marry Morgana, but if Odin is genuine in his desire, I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Merlin, you’re too self-sacrificing for your own good. I feel like there’s another way to do this without anyone marrying anyone they don’t want to. We just have to think of it. In the meantime, we should stall the wedding.”

“How?”

“Any way we can. Let’s think on it. But for now, I think there’s someone else you’d rather be spending time with . . .?”

Merlin’s eyes brightened. “Oh, yes!” He stood. “Thank you Arthur. I guess I’ll be seeing you at dinner?”

“Count on it.”

Merlin hurried to the door and left, walking the short distance to Morgana’s guest chambers. He didn’t see the servant who’d been listening at the air vent scurry away to report to his master. He had some very interesting news for him indeed.

xxxXxxx

Odin and Eldin were lingering in the king’s chambers after eating lunch. There was a knock at the door, and Odin called out, “Enter.”

A servant came in and closed the door behind him. After bowing to the king and prince, he addressed them. “Sires, I have information about the man who returned with Princess Morgana.”

“Speak,” Odin commanded.

“Well, sire, the man is a powerful sorcerer.”

“A sorcerer? That is not good news,” Odin mused.

“In fact, he’s a figure of Druid legend, called Emrys.”

“Emrys?” Eldin interjected. “Father, I’ve studied many Druid legends, and this Emrys is featured in several. He’s said to be the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth.”

“Unbelievable! Are you sure about this?”

Eldin nodded. “He’s supposed to help an equally legendary King unite all Albion, return magic to his lands and bring about a golden age of peace and prosperity.”

“Yes, yes. That sounds lovely. But does he pose a threat to me?”

“I don’t believe so. He’s supposed to use his magic for good.”

“I don’t think you understand what I mean. If this ‘Merlin’ is a sorcerer he could put a damper on our plans. Good work, servant.”

“Thank you sire. I do have more though.”

“Tell me.”

“Besides being very friendly with Prince Arthur, the sorcerer and Princess Morgana are in love. Also, he and the prince question your motives for the treaty.”

“Confound it!” The king hit the table with his fist and turned to Eldin. “Still think he’s not a threat to our plan.”

Eldin opened his mouth to speak then closed it. He thought for a moment then finally spoke. “He seems like a good man to me. It’s obvious that Arthur and Morgana think highly of him.”

“The man would take away your fiancée and you _still_ say he’s a good man?”

“You already know how I feel about all of this.”

“Indeed. And I’ll thank you to keep your mouth shut.” He turned to the servant. “Please fetch me Count Drummond.”

“Of course sire.” The servant bowed and left.

“I know where _this_ is headed. May I go, Father?”

“Yes, since I know you don’t have the stomach for what I’m about to do. But I forbid you to tell your new friends about it. And stay away from Merlin.”

“Father—”

“ _Go_ , Eldin.”

“Yes Father.” Eldin bowed and left, heading for Arthur’s chambers. He could use a friend right about now, even though he couldn’t share what was really on his mind.

A few minutes later, Count Drummond entered the room and carefully closed the door behind him. The Count had a specialty besides tracking. He was rather useful at acquiring information from others in unorthodox ways. He liked to experiment with exciting and _painful_ ways to accomplish this end. It was for _this_ talent that Odin had summoned him.

The king shared his newly acquired information with the Count. He explained what he wanted to have happen with the sorcerer, and Drummond nodded eagerly. He had a new method he’d wanted to try on a magic user, but they were so hard to find these days due to Uther’s Purge. Getting what Odin wanted out of the sorcerer would be no problem, he assured the king.

Just as Odin had dismissed the Count, he called him back. “Oh, and be sure to write that missive to King Uther about how we rescued his daughter from those awful people from Nemeth. He may even want to go to war over it.”

“Wouldn’t that be a pity,” Drummond said, deadpan. He then broke into laughter.

Odin joined him for a moment. “You know, when I hired Alvarr to kidnap Morgana, I never imagined it would turn out the way it has. But it’ll be so much more fun to squeeze everything we can from this sorcerer then wring Arthur’s neck right after the wedding. What glorious revenge I’ll have.” He laughed again, but longer this time. Drummond joined him and together they drank to their success.

xxxXxxx

Merlin had enjoyed his time talking with Morgana and Gwen. He got to hear their versions of the aftermath of his capture and everything that led them to where they were now. But now his head felt full of information and he still had to come up with a plan to get them all out of this mess.

He excused himself with a hug and kiss to Morgana, but Gwen followed him to the door. “Merlin, would you mind if I came over in a few minutes? I’ve something I’d like to talk to you about in private.”

“Of course Gwen. Whenever you’re ready, come on over.”

“Thank you.”

Merlin left the room and went back to his room. After a few minutes, there was a knock on his door and Gwen entered. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re here!” she exclaimed after closing the door behind her.

“Gwen, what is it?”

“I have some horrible information I’ve been holding onto for weeks . . . you may want to sit for this.”

“Gwen, now you’re really worrying me.” He did sit on the bed though.

“Shortly after we first arrived here, I happened to walk by their council chambers in the course of my duties. I heard talking and recognized the King’s and Prince Eldin’s voices. They were speaking of the treaty and how it was all a sham to get Arthur here so Odin could kill him. The Prince seemed resistant to the idea and protested heavily, but was forced to follow his father’s orders. The King has the Prince’s love imprisoned and threatened her life if the Prince didn’t cooperate.”

“That’s awful! What—”

“There’s more. They spoke of a second part of the plan, and I think it had to do with Morgana being kidnapped. Only I can’t see what they’d gain from that.”

“Since they were headed to Nemeth, it probably had something to do with starting a war between them and Camelot.” Merlin was up and pacing. “I take it you didn’t tell Arthur or Morgana any of this.”

“No. The King discovered me there and pulled me into the room. He threatened to hurt Morgana if I breathed a word of it to her or Arthur.”

“Well that’s just great,” he commented sarcastically. “That’s why you’re relieved that I’m here—so you could tell me.”

“Yes, but I _am_ really glad to see you’re alive, Merlin. You _are_ one of my best friends.”

Merlin chuckled briefly. “I know. But now we have a legitimate reason to put a stop to the negotiations. Not even Uther would try to make this work after _this_ news comes to light. What do we do?”

“I should get back to Morgana. I don’t want to leave her alone any longer than I have to.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“What will you do?”

“Tell Arthur everything, of course. He usually comes up with the plans.” _I can’t do this alone now_.

“Good luck. See you later Merlin.”

“Later Gwen.”

Merlin flopped back down onto his bed. _Just what I needed—more information_. Thoughts began whirling around his head about the multiple problems he was faced with. It really boiled down to one, but the situation was tricky. He closed his eyes to better think, and the next thing he was aware of was a knock at his door. _Great, I fell asleep_.

A familiar voice came through the door. “ _Mer_ lin, it’s almost time for dinner with the king. You _don’t_ want to be late.”

Merlin groaned and got up to straighten himself up as best he could. He’d had no time to tell Arthur the news from Gwen, so that would have to wait until after dinner now.

He met Arthur, Gwen and Morgana in the hall and they went down to the royal dining room together. Odin had quite a nice banquet laid for them, and once Eldin arrived, they sat to eat. The king started the conversation by asking Arthur and Merlin how they knew each other. Arthur made up a fake story about they met in the woods and Merlin saved his life. He supposedly invited Merlin to come to Camelot and serve as a sort of protector.

Merlin was quite impressed with Arthur’s lie. He’d obviously learned that the trick to a good lie was to stay as close to the truth as possible, something Merlin was still working on. Odin asked _him_ several questions also. He answered as best he could and was relieved when the attention was diverted away from him by Morgana. He flashed her a smile and began observing the King and Prince Eldin.

It was fairly late by the time Odin excused himself to retire. He bid everyone goodnight and left the room; the others followed shortly. On the way back to his chamber, Merlin asked Arthur to come by a bit later as he had something to share in private. Arthur agreed and they each went to their own chambers.

The first thing Merlin noticed was the darkness of his room—all the candles had been blown out. The second was a sudden pain at the back of his skull that caused a different sort of darkness to come over him as he sunk into unconsciousness.

xxxXxxx

The next thing Merlin knew was bright sunlight shining in his eyes. His hands and feet were bound to the chair he was sitting in. When he tried to access his magic, it slipped out of his reach. He opened his eyes and saw he was wearing a new piece of ugly jewelry around his neck—a collar. It appeared to block his magic in a manner similar to Jarl’s manacles. He sighed, not expecting a reply, but heard one anyway. “Good morning.”

“Is it?” Merlin answered abruptly. The man behind him might as well know his displeasure right off.

“Oh indeed.” Footsteps sounded and soon the man was in front of him. It was the man he vaguely remembered being introduced as Count Drummond. “And you are my very special guest. Merlin, is it?”

Merlin didn’t answer. He merely gave the man a stony look.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I want us to be friendly at least. What I’m doing will require some cooperation on your part.”

“Ha. Not likely.”

“Oh, I think you’ll be surprised.”

“You obviously know about my magic. But you don’t know that you can’t restrain me with this collar.”

“Are you sure? Hm, but then again you’re _Emrys_. Your magic is supposed to have no limits.”

“How . . . never mind. I’ll be free before you can do anything to me.”

“Oh go ahead. Try it. I’d like to see what you’re capable of.”

Merlin closed his eyes to focus his magic. When he opened them again, they flashed gold as he said, “ _Ábirteaþ_ _þæt heaðor_.” The collar snapped and he tensed to jump up, but a massive pain in his head stopped him. He yelled and fell to the floor, still restrained in the chair.

“Interesting,” the Count said dryly.

Merlin panted until he caught his breath. It took several minutes, unfortunately. “What the _hell_ did you do to me?”

“Oh, a fun combination of drugs and a spell I forced a Druid to cast before he died. If you use your magic, the pain will return. I’m guessing it’s quite unpleasant.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Ooh, good. Feedback.” The Count ran to a table and picked up a parchment and quill pen. “Would you mind sharing how it felt, in detail?”

Merlin stared at the man with disbelief. _Is he crazy?_ “Yes, I mind.”

“Oh you. Well, I’ll just set you back in your chair and give you some time to think about it. Perhaps you’ll change your mind after the secondary effects kick in.” The Count put down his paper and pen then exited the room.

All Merlin could do was sit there in dread and think, _secondary effects_?

xxxXxxx

Morgana was worried. It was midday and she hadn’t seen her love since last night. Gwen shared her worry, as did Arthur, although he denied it. Merlin wasn’t in his room and no one in the castle had seen him leave it or the castle.

She even asked Eldin, whom she was still supposed to marry in three days. He said he’d look into the matter, but she didn’t have much faith in him. It wasn’t that she was avoiding him or that he minded that, but he just seemed ambivalent about the matter. And, of course, they were both busy with preparations for a wedding neither of them wanted. It was all so frustrating.

Arthur immediately suspected foul play. Merlin had asked to see him before bed, but didn’t answer when Arthur had knocked on his door. And when he went inside, Arthur saw no trace of him beyond clean, folded clothes on the bed. He too asked Eldin, but the other prince had no idea.

So Arthur asked for and received an audience with the King. Odin seemed concerned enough to start a limited search, but Arthur could detect insincerity in his voice. _Maybe they were right about him_. He decided to conduct his own clandestine search and prayed he could find the warlock before the wedding.

xxxXxxx

Later that night, the city’s tavern was filled to capacity. Among the patrons was a certain no-longer-undefeated swordsman. He’d made it back to the city in one piece and had decided to wait for Alvarr to return. So he went back to his usual habits—drinking by night then hangover recovery and menial labor by day.

Gwaine sat at the bar, already deep into his third mug of ale, when a nobleman bounced into the tavern. “It’s been a great day! Barkeep, a round of drinks for everyone here!” A cheer went out among the patrons, which made Gwaine look up.

He knew this man. Or knew _of_ him, at least. This Count Drummond was a fine warrior, an excellent hunter and secret patron of all manner of kinks. The rumors Gwaine had heard-if even half of them were true -this man was the worst kind of degenerate. He kept his head down as Drummond settled on a seat not too far away from him.

The barkeep and his maids were kept busy refilling everyone’s ale, and the Count became surrounded by several men. It seemed these were his usual cronies who loved hearing the man’s tales. He began describing his latest conquests and, oddly enough, his scientific exploits. Everyone around him, including Gwaine, listened with rapt attention. Sometimes information picked up in taverns was the best kind; the kind that many paid highly for.

A few hours later, most of the Count’s followers had either passed out or left. So now Gwaine could hear even better. His ears perked up when he heard the man say the word “sorcerer.”

“Last night I acquired the most interesting sorcerer. It seems this one is one of the most powerful ever.” Even though the man was far into his cups, truth rung from his words. “He just came here the other day with the princes and kidnapped princess. The one our future king is marrying?”

“Aye,” one of the drunkards said.

“Well this sorcerer allowed me the opp-opp-opportunity to try a method I’ve been _dying_ to experiment with. A few nice herbs touched by a dab of magic. Well, it kept _him_ at bay! He bragged that nothing could restrain him long, but I showed him.” They all laughed.

Gwaine’s mind was racing. _Could it be the man in brown who defeated me?_ He listened harder.

“So tomorrow I’m going to try some tricks I’ve been saving up since the Purge ended. Should be a good time, eh?” The drunken men roared while the Count called to the barkeep to settle his tab. When he got up to leave, Gwaine followed him out.

There was an alley a few paces down the road. Gwaine quickly caught up to Drummond and pulled him into it. The man protested but Gwaine clapped one hand over the man’s mouth and restrained him with the other. “Where are you keeping the man in brown?” He lifted his hand from the other man’s mouth.

“Who?” Drumond’s eyes were wide with fear.

Gwaine shook his head. “The sorcerer. Where are you keeping him?”

The Count laughed shrilly. “That’s for me to know and for you to never find out.”

“Tell me!”

“I don’t think so,” the Count said in a sing-song voice.

Gwaine shoved the man against the wall. “ _Tell me!_ ” But the count’s eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out. Gwaine let go of him and he slumped to the ground. He kicked the scum for good measure and went back to the little home he was renting.

Percival had shown up in town the day after Gwaine had. He was back at the house. Gwaine sat him down and explained what he’d heard from Count Drummond. They both agreed that the man in brown was a good and honorable man and deserved to be rescued from the Count’s clutches. So they began forming a plan to find Drummond and follow him to wherever he was keeping the man. And if he was a friend of the Prince and Princess of Camelot, maybe they’d ingratiate themselves to them and be invited back to Camelot. Tales of the kingdom and its knights appealed to the two men and they wanted to at least see those vaunted men.


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur and Morgana went to bed that night very frustrated. Odin’s search, if it had even been conducted, had turned up nothing. Arthur’s own search had been fruitless. He’d combed the castle- down to the dungeons -and the town surrounding it. No one had seen Merlin _anywhere_.

And he wouldn’t be able to search the next day—Uther was scheduled to arrive, probably at midmorning. He’d be expected to accompany his father everywhere. Also, everyone in the castle was becoming increasingly busy with wedding preparations; he had little power to order them around and get his way.

Morgana was so distraught not even Gwen could calm her down. She cried her heart out until she fell asleep. And when she did sleep, horrible dreams plagued her—Merlin bound and in great pain. An unknown man taunting him, torturing him with various wicked-looking devices while asking him about Camelot’s secrets. And the worst, her walking down the aisle in Odin’s Great Hall, only to meet an unhappy Eldin and coldly-smiling Odin at the end.

She screamed herself awake. Gwen, who’d stayed in the room, flew to her mistress. Morgana began crying again, blubbering incoherently to her maid. Gwen had to leave the room at the sheer despair.

Once the Princess’s voice gave out, she took to screaming in her mind. “ _Merlin, Merlin, where are you? Why can’t I find you? Please come back to me, help me. I don’t want to marry him!_ ” Her tears resumed as her cries repeated over and over in her head.

Down in a secret room below the dungeons, Merlin startled awake. _Something woke me, what was it?_ He listened but heard nothing besides dripping water and scurrying mice. Suddenly he heard it again in his head, “ _Merlin, please help me!_ ” Morgana! The Princess was speaking into his mind just like Mordred had.

“ _Morgana, I’m here! I’m being held prisoner!_ ” he sent to her.

Upstairs, she dimly heard his response and immediately stopped crying. “ _Merlin? How is this possible?_ ”

“ _It’s mind-to-mind communication. I first experienced it with Mordred_.”

“ _What, really? Amazing! But Merlin, where are you?_ ”

“ _I don’t know. I have a feeling we’re not too far apart or this wouldn’t be possible_.”

“ _How do I find you? We need your help—my father will be here in the morning!_ ”

“ _I wish I knew. But I won’t give up trying to escape. Have faith in_ us _, Morgana. Now, is it still nighttime?_ ”

“ _Yes_.”

“ _Then you should go back to sleep_.”

“ _But_ . . .”

“ _No, Morgana. You need your rest. Go back to sleep knowing that I love you and I’m trying my hardest to get back to you_.”

“ _I love you too Merlin. Goodnight_.”

“ _Goodnight Morgana_.”

xxxXxxx

In the morning, Gwaine and Percival were up early to find Count Drummond’s chambers at the castle. A pretty maid Gwaine’d charmed gave them directions and they were off. They knocked on the man’s door but no answer came. The door was locked, but Gwaine picked at it and they entered. No one was in the room and they cursed their rotten luck, vowing to come back tomorrow, only earlier. Everyone would be highly distracted by the Prince’s wedding so it would be even easier to slip in.

In another part of the castle, Morgana woke up, got out of bed and put on her robe without waking Gwen. She flew out of her room to pound frantically on Arthur’s door. He finally opened it after a long moment, complaining about the hour. But she barged her way in and began talking before he could even close the door.

She explained about her middle-of-the-night conversation with Merlin. Of course she had to stop and explain about the mind-to-mind talking. _Arthur could be so slow sometimes_. He was amazed, but finally got it and let her explain the conversation.

So now they knew he was nearby, but he hadn’t given her any clues about where he was. Arthur told her to try to talk to him again and get a description of the room he was in and who was holding him. She agreed. He guessed that Merlin and Morgana were too busy coddling each other to exchange truly useful information.

In the unknown dungeon room, Count Drummond had decided to pay Merlin a visit. He smirked wickedly as he came in. “By the way, don’t even try to escape or hope for rescue. The way in is secret and only the King and I know it,” he said cheerily.

He then decided to try out a few of his “toys” on Merlin. After he used each torture device, he’d ask Merlin how it made him feel and if it had any effect on his magic. Sometimes Merlin was able to answer, sometimes he simply blacked out from the pain. When he found something that worked that didn’t make Merlin pass out, he began asking questions about Camelot—the size of its army, et cetera. Some of the answers Merlin knew, some he didn’t either way, he didn’t talk. Odin was not going to take advantage of Camelot because of _him_.

xxxXxxx

Morgana, Arthur and Gwen were summoned when Uther’s party was spotted. They waited on the castle’s steps with Odin, Eldin and the rest of his household. Arthur was excited and nervous to see his father after all the time away. Morgana was apprehensive but hoped they could go to Uther with their concerns about the treaty and marriage. She knew Arthur and Eldin would support her in her views. Gwen was mostly annoyed—she and Arthur would have to hide their relationship again. It had grown to the point where they’d promised to love no one but each other until the time Arthur was King and they could be married.

Uther smiled when he saw his children. He quickly dismounted and rushed over to embrace Morgana. He clasped hands with Arthur in a manly form of embrace and asked how things were going. They said they were well and promised to tell him all about their time there later, after he’d had time to rest and refresh himself.

Morgana was rushed off for some last-minute dress fittings while Arthur accompanied his father to his guest chambers. The king would be housed in chambers on the opposite side of Arthur’s.

After speaking with Uther for a few minutes, Arthur went to find Morgana. He asked her if anyone around had mentioned Merlin at all. He wanted to use the time their father was resting to look for his lost servant again. Morgana said no one had, even when she’d asked and told him to go look. She’d continue with what little she could do on her end, like trying to contact him by mind again. She’d tried numerous times today already, with no luck.

Arthur went off and Morgana finished her fitting. She had a couple free hours until she was next required to be someplace, so she decided to go back to her chambers to try talking to Merlin again. She felt she hadn’t been successful because she hadn’t been feeling strong emotions like she had the first time. Those wouldn’t be difficult for her to muster when she was alone—she was plenty angry and upset at Merlin’s situation.

Morgana flung herself on her bed and thought about Merlin, how sad she was that she wasn’t with him, how angry she was that they couldn’t find him, and how upset she was overall. That got angry tears and choked sobs running down her face, so now was the time to try. “ _Merlin? Merlin, are you there?_ ”

“ _Morgana?_ ” His voice was weak, like he was hurting.

“ _Yes Merlin. Are you hurt? In pain? What’s happening?_ ”

“ _Torture . . . I’m being tortured by . . . by . . . Count Drummond_.”

“ _Torture?! Count Drummond?! He seemed so normal._ Why _? Why would he do that?_ ”

He chuckled ironically; it ended in a cough. “ _Because I got in the way of Odin’s plans?_ ”

“ _Odin_ is _planning something. We suspected that much. Is he there now, hurting you?_ ”

“ _No, neither of them are here_.”

“ _Good. Merlin, I need you to describe where you are. Arthur’s trying to find you_.”

“ _Okay. Well, I’m obviously near the dungeon. There’s dripping water and mice running around. No windows, solid stone walls_.”

“ _So you_ are _still here. I’ll tell Arthur where to look. I’m afraid he can’t look long—Uther is here and I’m tied up with these damn wedding plans_.”

“ _Don’t worry about me, Morgana. Do what you need to do. Tell Uther everything. If anyone can stop Odin’s plans, it’s Uther_.”

“ _I love you Merlin_.”

“ _I love you too._ ” His voice faded out like he was falling asleep, and maybe he was.

Just the thought of him down there in that awful place, being tortured, made her cry again. That, and her broken night’s rest, lulled her to sleep once more.

xxxXxxx

Sometime later, Morgana was woken by Gwen, who’d been sent to fetch her. She whisked her away to oversee final preparations all over the castle. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to pass on what she’d learned to Arthur. In fact, she didn’t see Arthur until dinner when she, the Princes and the Kings ate together.

Uther was welcomed like an old friend, even though he and Odin had been adversaries for decades. The kitchens had prepared excellent food for the occasion, and soon everyone was laughing, at least on the outside. Gradually the topic turned to the wedding and its many preparations. The Kings talked with one another while their children were mostly silent, each trying not to think about the events ahead.

Morgana noticed Odin watching her carefully. When they got to the subject of her gown, she’d had enough of listening. “If my lords will excuse me, I’m afraid I have a headache from my lack of sleep,” she said, standing. Uther’s face expressed concern and his “of course” reassured her. Odin merely watched her and nodded as she left.

She made it to her chambers and sat on her bed. Gwen was there and had come over to talk to her Lady when there was a knock on the door. The maid changed direction and walked over to open the door. Morgana had expected Arthur or Uther, but it was neither. Odin appeared in her doorway and poor Gwen could not refuse him entrance. He dismissed Gwen and closed the door behind her after she left.

“Are you feeling all right?” he asked her.

“Obviously not,” she replied.

“I think this is more about your wedding than you let on. Tell me Morgana, are you nervous?”

“Nervous? Of course not. I’ve been raised to expect to be married off to someone I don’t love.”

“Ah, now we come to it.”

“Does it shock you that I don’t love your son?”

“Not particularly. As royals, we know that love, if it happens at all, happens well after the wedding.”

“Indeed, Sire. But you see, I do love—I love someone who _isn’t_ Prince Eldin. In fact, he’s pretty much the opposite of Eldin in every way. So it comes to this—I love Merlin. I always have and I always will. If you tell me I must marry your son, please believe I will be gone by morning.”

The expression on Odin’s face puzzled her. He didn’t look angry, merely politely confused. “I could never cause you grief—consider the wedding off.”

Morgana’s mouth fell open. “Really? After everything that’s already been done?”

“Morgana, it is of no importance compared to your comfort. If you really love this ‘Merlin’ then I can’t in good conscience keep you from him. I know he’s still missing and I’ll redouble my efforts to find—”

She lost her temper and cut him off. “You _snake_! I already know where he is; where you _put_ him! You’re torturing him because he could mess up your precious plan, whatever it is!”

Odin’s face turned cruel. “You should watch what you’re implying, _girl_.”

“Let him go!”

“I will _not_ let him go. He’s my leverage to make sure you do what I want you to do. Tomorrow you _will_ marry my son, or I’ll kill your precious love _and_ Eldin’s. You have no idea what’s really happening here, but believe me, you’re getting the better end of this.”

“I refuse—”

Odin grabbed her throat. “ _Yes_ you _will_. You’re in _my_ kingdom where _I_ make all the rules. Marry Eldin or Merlin _dies_.” He let her go.

She bowed her head, contrite. “Of course my lord.”

Odin turned and swept from the room, slamming the door behind him. Morgana collapsed on her bed, in tears once again.

She was still crying when there was another knock on her door. When she didn’t answer, Gwen entered and was followed by Arthur. Both ran right over to her. “Morgana, what is it?” Gwen asked.

“O-Odin. He pretended to b-be concerned about me. C-called off the wedding and said he’d l-look for Merlin. I-I lost it then, accused him of torturing Merlin.”

“Oh Morgana, you didn’t,” Arthur admonished.

“I d-did. He’s f-forcing me to m-marry Eldin. If I d-don’t he’ll k-kill M-Merlin!” Her words dissolved into tears again. Gwen put her arms around the distraught Princess.

“You know where he is? You talked to him?” Arthur pressed. Morgana nodded. “Tell me, I’ll go find him.”

Morgana wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. “H-He’s in a room somewhere in the d-dungeon. That’s all he could tell me.”

Arthur took her hands. “Thank you Morgana. I’ll search again, slower this time. If I have to stay up all night, I’ll find him.”

“Thank you, Arthur.”

The Prince turned to Gwen. “Stay with her—don’t leave her for a second.”

Gwen nodded. “Upon my life,” she said.

Arthur leaned forward to kiss Gwen’s lips. He kissed Morgana’s forehead. “Get some sleep,” he said before standing and leaving the room.

“He’ll find him, Morgana, I know he will,” Gwen told her. She helped her lady into bed and sat next to her head. “Sleep, Morgana.” She gently stroked Morgana’s hair until she fell asleep. Then she got up, put out all the candles but one and sat in a chair next to the bed. She’d not leave her Lady this night.

xxxXxxx

Arthur returned to his chambers for his sword then headed toward the dungeon. He started at one end, looking for unusual cracks or deformations in the walls and floors that could indicate a secret room. He was nearing his fifth hour of an exhausting search and failed to hear stealthy footsteps behind him. He didn’t know he’d been found until something hit the back of his head and he descended into blackness.

The next thing Arthur knew was a hard, cold surface under his back. He tried to move his limbs, but found that he could only get them so far before he met resistance. A familiar voice suddenly gasped his name so he opened his eyes. There, sitting on a chair next to him, was Merlin. And he looked _horrible_. “Merlin?” he said weakly.

“Welcome to the Pit of Despair,” Merlin said with heavy irony. “My own name for this not-so-private hell.”

“So this is where you’ve been for two days.”

“Yep. Isn’t it cozy?”

“Oh definitely. Thanks for the invite, by the way.” Merlin chuckled hoarsely. “Hey, at least I found you!”

“That you did.”

“So how do we get out of here? I’d have expected you to blast your way out if here with magic by now.”

“Oh that’s a good idea, why didn’t I think of that?” Merlin rolled his eyes. “Arthur, he keeps me drugged with something. If I try to use my magic, I get exploding pain in my head.”

“So we’re stuck here?”

“Until someone rescues us, yeah.”

“Well I hope it happens before the wedding.”

“You haven’t stopped it?” Merlin was alarmed.

“No. And now Odin knows that Morgana knows where you are. He threatened to kill you if she doesn’t marry Eldin.”

“No . . .”

“Yeah, he’s a right scumbag. And now I can’t even convince my father to call everything off.”

“Great, just great. Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait. If worse comes to worse, I’ll try to use the magic through the pain, but I make no promises.”

“That’s all I can ask of you.”

xxxXxxx

Gwaine and Percival were waiting, hidden, outside Count Drummond's chambers before dawn the next morning. They watched servants come and go before the man himself came out. He appeared so preoccupied that he didn't even notice the two men following him.

The Count wove his way through castle corridors to the dungeons. He walked part way through before ducking into a small alcove.

Gwaine nodded at Percival and together they walked forward to grab the man's arms. He tried to protest, but Percival had his hand over the Count's mouth before he could utter a sound. “Now listen to me,” Gwaine whispered. The scared man nodded. “Good. Now, you're going to let us into this secret little room of yours or my friend here will snap your neck. Got it?”

The Count nodded. Percival slowly removed his hand from the man's mouth. “Please don't hurt me,” he mumbled.

“Then let us in!” Gwaine grumbled.

“Yes. Of course.” The Count simpered. He put his hand on one of the stone bricks and pushed. An opening barely big enough for one man swung open like a door.

Gwaine ducked inside first and was surprised to see the Crown Prince of Camelot and the man in brown tied up. Percival pushed the Count through and gasped his surprise.

“Who are you?” the Prince asked.

“Tie him up,” Gwaine told Percival. He turned to Arthur. “Your Highness, I am Gwaine and this is my friend Percival.” Percival tossed a wave in the Prince’s direction. “We honestly weren’t expecting to find you, just the man in brown there.”

“Is that what I’m being called these days?” Merlin joked.

“We don’t know what else to call you. You never gave us your name,” Percival pointed out.

“Huh, I guess not.” He smiled “I’m Merlin. I’d shake your hand, but as I’m tied up at the moment . . .”

“Oh, of course.” Gwaine whipped out a dagger and freed Merlin and the Prince, who thanked him.

“I defeated both of you; why would you want to save me now?” Merlin wondered.

“Oh, I heard you were here and decided to look you up . . .” Gwaine started.

Percival interrupted. “You could have killed both of us and you didn’t. That makes you a good and honorable man. The world needs more men like you.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” Merlin said.

“I know you like to chat, _Mer_ lin, but we need to get out of here and stop the wedding,” Arthur interjected. The two former bandits looked at him oddly. “Yes, I know Merlin. In Camelot, he’s my . . . friend.”

Merlin grinned at him brightly. “Aw thanks.”

Arthur shot him an irritated look. “Oh, shut up. We need you to get your magic back. How do we do that?”

Merlin nodded at Count Drummond. “I have no idea, but maybe he does.”

The Prince stalked over to the Count. “How does he get his magic back?” He pulled down the gag Percival had tied.

“That bottle on the table—the blue liquid. But it’ll take an hour for it to reach full effect.”

“Thanks,” Arthur said dryly and re-gagged him.

Merlin found the bottle, popped the cork and downed it. “Hey, this tastes pretty good! How did you do _that_? You could give Gaius a few tips—”

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled. “Wedding, true love . . . remember?”

“Damn, we need to go!” the warlock replied. He left through the opening, followed by Arthur, Gwaine and Percival. As they were running, he asked, “When is it supposed to start?”

“Two hours after sunrise,” Percival answered. Gwaine gave him a strange look. “What? Everyone knows—they made a big enough deal of it.”

They passed a window; Arthur paused to look out. “Great, it’s just about that _now_.” They ran for Morgana’s chambers but found them deserted; she was already gone. “To the great hall.”

Merlin ran into his chambers to grab a sword and they took off again, heading for the great hall. That took several minutes, so he tried his magic on the way: “ _Bærne_.” Nothing happened, but he no longer felt head-splitting pain. _Well, it’s progress_.

As they neared the great hall, sentries saw them running and called for reinforcements. The four men came to a stop and held their swords at the ready. “You don’t have to help us,” Arthur told Gwaine and Percival.

“Nah, your chances of getting in there look pretty slim. I kinda like those kinds of odds,” Gwaine replied.

“I’m with him,” Percival added.

“Okay then. Let’s do this.” They charged forward.


	12. Chapter 12

Morgana was woken at sunrise by Gwen. She felt sluggish and headachy from falling asleep crying again. She dragged herself out of bed and asked Gwen, “Who decided to hold a wedding this early anyway?”

“That would be King Odin,” Gwen reminded her.

“I hate that man.”

“Mor _ga_ na!”

“Gwen, he’s forcing me into this marriage, to a man who I don’t love and who doesn’t love me. And this is while my true love is being held and tortured by this hateful man.”

“You have a good point there.”

“I know.”

“But until he’s found you have to go through with it. He’ll kill him.”

“You heard that?”

“Unfortunately.” She paused in her work. “Come, you must eat your breakfast quickly.”

Morgana sat and picked at her breakfast for a while. Gwen sighed and suggested that she get her mistress dressed and ready for the wedding. When Odin had caught her listening last night, he threatened to hurt Morgana if Gwen didn’t have her ready on time. _Hateful man indeed_.

The Princess slipped behind her dressing screen and Gwen came over to her with her wedding dress. It was a lovely dress, but not really what she wanted to wear at her wedding. After that was on, Gwen worked on her hair and made up her face. Morgana looked at herself in the mirror and thought; _I look like the perfect doll, don’t I? Perfect for Odin to dress up and toy with at his will_. She was about to scream in frustration but there was a knock at the door.

Gwen opened it to the man they’d just been vilifying. He walked into the room, smirked at her and said, “You don’t seem excited. I’m told brides often are.”

“I don’t marry today. My Merlin will save me.”

“You silly girl.”

“Yes, I am a silly girl for not seeing before that you’re nothing but a coward with a heart full of fear.”

Odin’s face filled with fury. “I would not say such things if I were you!”

“Why not? You can’t hurt me—he and I are joined by the bonds of love. You can’t track it or break it by force. He will come save me and there’s not a thing you can do about that!”

“ _I would not say such things if I were you!_ ” Odin seized Morgana’s wrist and yanked her across the room and into the corridor. She shrieked in pain but he just continued pulling her until they got to more populated corridors.

As they neared the great hall, Morgana saw Uther waiting there with a puzzled look on his face. Eldin stood with him, but they weren’t speaking to each other. When she got close enough, Uther asked her if she’d seen Arthur. To her surprise, she realized she hadn’t and indicated he might be running late. Odin put a smile on his face and agreed, saying they could wait a few more minutes for him. But only a few—his kingdom’s customs dictated that once the officiator decided to start, the doors to the room must be closed, locked and guarded. Morgana and Uther thought that kind of ridiculous and even Eldin looked a little surprised.

The few minutes Odin had allotted passed and Arthur hadn’t appeared. He looked a bit on edge for some reason, but the other two men put it down to usual wedding emotions. Finally Odin said it was time and everyone stepped inside where the Court was waiting. Odin and Eldin walked to the front of the hall where a man in fancy robes awaited.

At Odin’s signal, trumpets blew a processional. Uther took his daughter’s arm in his and began walking her down the aisle. Morgana looked around for Merlin or Arthur as she walked, but neither was there. She was sure they’d show up though, so she wasn’t worried.

At last they reached the end and Uther handed her off to Eldin, who gave her a tentative smile. It said _I know neither of us want to be here, but it’s really for the best_. She didn’t agree but smiled back. He was being used as a pawn just like she was and making the best of a bad situation; she couldn’t blame him for that.

The officiate had begun speaking; pontificating upon the notions of love and marriage, when there was a noise outside the hall. It sounded suspiciously like swords clanging and men yelling. Morgana smiled; surely that was Merlin and Arthur trying to get into the hall. Someone out there yelled, “Stand your ground men.”

Odin grimaced and everyone else but Morgana looked confused. They had no idea of all the politics and manipulations that had gone on behind the scenes. Morgana wanted to laugh, but settled for smiling broadly. _Merlin was coming!_ Odin looked at his captain of the guard and snapped his fingers. The captain nodded to three men around him and they followed him out another entrance. The king turned to the priest and said, “Skip to the end.”

The officiate looked taken aback for a moment and said, “Have you the rings?” Odin held one out to Eldin and Uther gave Morgana the other. Eldin slid Morgana’s on her left hand, but Morgana hesitated.

“Do it or he dies,” Odin threatened quietly. Morgana glared and slid the ring onto Eldin’s left hand. Outside the room there was more shouting.

Morgana looked into Odin’s eyes—he was scared, or at least threatened. “Then why is there fear behind your eyes?” she asked him.

His face grew red with anger as more shouting and sword-clanging sounded in the background. He turned his glare on the officiate. “Man and wife! Say ‘man and wife’!”

“Man and wife,” the officiate said, totally confused. He wasn’t alone—everyone else in the room was completely puzzled at the abbreviated ceremony.

Odin shoved Morgana at Eldin and said, “Escort the bride to the honeymoon suite.” Morgana glared hard at the angry King, but he took no notice. He rallied the rest of his knights and soldiers in the room and led them out.

“Come on, Morgana, we’d better go,” Eldin whispered. He took her hand and tucked it into his arm then led them to another exit.

They walked a circuitous route toward the chambers she and Eldin would supposedly be sharing. “I don’t get it. He said he would come for me!”

“Morgana, don’t give up hope. I’m willing to bet all that commotion is him _trying_ to come for you.”

“But Eldin, _we got married!_ ”

“Did either of us say ‘I do’?”

“Well, no.”

“If we didn’t say it, we didn’t do it.”

“We’re not married?”

“No, thank goodness. No offense.”

“None taken.” She looked around at where they were going. “This isn’t the way to the honeymoon suite.”

“No, it’s not. I have a feeling Merlin will look for you in your chambers, so you must be ready to go.”

She kissed Eldin on the cheek. “Thank you so much. I hope you find happiness with your love.”

“I intend to. I also intend to investigate my father’s activities. I have a sick feeling killing Arthur and starting a war between Camelot and Nemeth weren’t his only plans.”

“Wait, he what?”

“You probably guessed that was why he had you kidnapped. But he orchestrated the whole treaty thing in order to get Arthur here so he could kill him himself.”

“That slimy weakling . . . no offense, Eldin.”

“None taken. Right now I’m wishing I was adopted.” They’d gotten to her door. “I hope to see you again after all this has blown over.”

“That would be nice. Good luck Eldin.”

“Thanks.” Eldin turned and walked back toward the commotion they’d left behind.

xxxXxxx

Arthur, Merlin, Gwaine, and Percival were having a rough day. It seemed like they’d been fighting for hours, but it had been mere minutes. But they were making headway—the two strange men were excellent sword fighters, but Arthur was absolutely floored at Merlin’s skill.

The warlock had indeed picked up Lancelot’s training well. That described Merlin’s style, although every now and then Arthur saw him do something that _he’d_ tried to teach Merlin. He thought he’d been unsuccessful, but clearly that wasn’t the case. Merlin had just needed the right teacher _and_ a bit of magic.

Speaking of the magic, Merlin used that too. What Arthur saw him do was awe-inspiring—he threw men, he heated their swords, he dropped things on them . . . _is this what he’d been doing all along?_ Arthur had realized just how oblivious he’d been and how much he really owed his friend. For that was what he was—a friend. He wasn’t sure he could let Merlin go back to being a manservant now.

Arthur saw Odin on the other side of the fray, directing his men. A wave of anger washed over him and he redoubled his efforts just so he could get over there to ask _why_.

He’d almost made it when he heard a familiar voice say behind him, “Arthur?” _Father?_ He didn’t stop to look, even after Uther started shouting at Odin to “stop attacking my son.”

Finally Uther walked out into the middle of the fight and ordered everyone to stop in his King voice. Merlin, breathing heavily, glanced at Arthur. His expression said, _Morgana_ , so Arthur nodded. Merlin sheathed his sword and took off, leaving Arthur and Uther to sort out the mess.

xxxXxxx

Morgana went inside her chamber and closed the door behind her. She went right to the room’s wardrobe and took out a large satchel. She began loading it with clothes and other essentials for an escape back to Camelot.

A few minutes later, the door opened and closed again. It was Gwen. “Let me give you a hand with that,” she said and started gathering things scattered around the room. When they’d finished that, she helped Morgana change into her tunic and trousers.

“Did you see them?” Morgana asked while she changed.

“Oh yeah. Merlin, Arthur and two other men were holding their own against about ten of Odin’s men. I think your father was thinking about joining them. At the very least, he’s seen enough to call off the treaty. He was yelling for Odin when I left.”

Morgana laughed. She laughed and laughed. Just when Gwen thought Morgana might finally be losing it, her laughter tapered off. “Good.”

A desperate knock sounded at the door. Before Gwen could open it, Merlin burst inside. He saw Morgana and sped over to her. He threw his arms around her and clung to her. She embraced him back, holding his head to her shoulder and running a hand through his hair. He was shaking, but it was with relief, not sadness. It took Gwen only a moment to quietly excuse herself to wait in the antechamber.

“I’m so glad you’re all right—did he hurt you at all?” he asked her. He lifted his head to look into her eyes and put his hands on either side of her face.

“I’m fine. We didn’t even get through the whole wedding ceremony, so it’s not binding.” She looked him over carefully. “Oh my love, what did they do to you?”

“That’s not important. _You_ are important.”

“Oh Merlin, hold me.”

He threw his arms around her again and just held her. She looked up at him with absolute love in her eyes and he couldn’t resist tipping his mouth down to hers. It was a simple kiss at first, but built in intensity as memories of their separation built. She teased his lips with her tongue and he opened his mouth to her. She took his mouth with abandon; he pressed her closer to him.

When they finally broke apart, both were panting. “Let’s sit,” he suggested. They went to sit on her bed and held hands. He didn’t particularly want to talk about his time as the Count’s prisoner, but he’d promised not to lie to her anymore. Whatever question she asked, he answered. She took the details fairly well, considering. She shared how Odin had treated her and everything up to and including the sham wedding. Eventually they reached a point where they were laughing.

That’s how Arthur found them later—sitting on the bed, holding hands and laughing. “Oh my goodness, it’s true,” he said from the doorway.

They looked up at him, startled. “Arthur!” Morgana exclaimed. She jumped up and ran to embrace her brother.

Merlin stood too. “How goes it?” he asked cautiously.

Arthur broke away from Morgana, who went to stand next to Merlin. “Well, the treaty’s off, that’s certain. And that wedding . . .”

“Wasn’t binding. I know,” Morgana replied.

“I know you’re heartbroken about it,” Arthur said dryly. “Long story short, Eldin’s kind of taken over negotiations. Father may even listen to him. We’ll leave after they chat for a day or two.” He examined the couple in front of him closely. “He doesn’t know about you two and he can’t. But I don’t have a problem with you seeing each other. You two deserve it after all the rubbish you’ve had to go through.”

Merlin and Morgana smiled at each other excitedly. “Thank you Arthur,” he said. He took Morgana’s hand.

The Prince put a hand on each of their shoulders. Don’t worry about a thing—everything will work out. When I’m King I plan on changing a few laws about magic and courting.”

“Is that for our benefit or yours and Gwen’s?” Morgana asked slyly.

Arthur flushed a little as he answered. “It’s to benefit any who fall in love outside their station. And please don’t tell father about Guinevere.”

“We won’t,” Merlin answered. He smiled at Morgana who smiled back.

“Argh, I think I’d prefer boring negotiations to watching you two be sickeningly sweet. See you later.”

“Bye Arthur!” The couple said, waving at the Prince as he left.

xxxXxxx

King Odin found himself confined to his chambers under guard. Later that same day, Merlin, Arthur, Gwaine, and Percival were called in front of Prince Eldin. They testified to Count Drummond’s deeds and the King’s approval of them. None of them were censured for the fight, since they didn’t start it and no one was killed.

The Prince also heard the Count’s and his father’s defense. Odin protested his treatment in all this, but the law was on Eldin’s side. The Prince chose to suspend his father’s authority, at least temporarily. He decided that that and house arrest were sufficient punishment. The Count would be more severely punished, but Eldin deferred his decision on that until the treaty negotiations were concluded. For now, Drummond spent his days in one of the dungeon’s more uncomfortable cells.

King Uther, for his part, was massively confused. He’d thought everything had been settled before the wedding. He wasn’t wrong, but no one had counted on Odin’s lust for Arthur’s blood. The fact that Odin had orchestrated the treaty and wedding based on that counted against him, but not against Eldin. He was impressed with Eldin’s handling of his father’s crimes and so was willing to negotiate with him.

After two days, Eldin and Uther had signed an agreement that included peace and trade routes between their kingdoms. No tie by marriage was ever mentioned, and both were relieved at that.

Eldin had wrested his sweetheart’s location from his father and freed her from the hidden dungeon cell she’d been in. They immediately became engaged, and everyone from Camelot was invited back to the kingdom for the wedding. Arthur privately thought that Eldin and his fiancée were almost as sickly sweet as his sister and Merlin, but no one could top Guinevere’s beauty.

Uther was nonplussed by Merlin’s reappearance, especially after everything that had happened. He merely shrugged and asked Arthur if he wanted to retain Merlin as his manservant. Arthur responded in the affirmative and it was settled.

The day after negotiations were finished, everyone from Camelot mounted their horses or got into the carriage and left, happy to be done with this particular unexpected adventure.

xxxXxxx

The group stopped to camp just over the border into Camelot. As it neared sunrise the next morning, Merlin woke and took a short hike into the woods. He came back and once he’d finished his usual tasks- cheating with magic -he quietly sought Morgana. From across the camp he spoke into her mind. “ _About fifty yards to the east is an overlook. I’ll meet you there_.”

“ _See you there_ ,” Morgana thought back. She watched the direction he took then chose a different one, but shortly they ended up in the same place, out of view of prying eyes. “Good morning,” she said aloud.

“Good morning,” he replied, taking her hand.

She leaned against him as they watched the sun rise. “It’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you.”

She looked up. He was looking at the view now, but his eyes darted toward her then back. A content smile spread across his face. “You’re such a charmer.”

“I guess that’s what true love does to you.” He turned his body to look at her. His right hand came up to brush an errant lock of hair behind her ear. It then drifted down to take hold of the back of her head and pulled it up toward his. A wave of love spread over her and she moved the rest of the way to his lips herself.

There have been many beautiful kisses throughout history, but this one was the most passionate, the most pure. It blew all others away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to you for reading! I enjoyed participating in 2015's After Camelot Big Bang. :) I hope to return to it next year!


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